


Fate/Zootopia - Headcanons

by AnthroLover



Category: Fate/Apocrypha, Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night - All Media Types, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Headcanon, Magecraft, Magic, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2019-11-27 19:30:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 50,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18198386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnthroLover/pseuds/AnthroLover
Summary: I'm creating a Fate/Zootopia crossover universe, and of course, if you create an universe, you have to create as many elements on it as possible to be the headcanons. This is a list of all my headcanons for this crossover universe.





	1. Chapter 1

**Gaia**  – The world itself. Gaia is the existence of the world, represented by all of the life that exists in it and that thrives. Gaia is a collective term of existence that reflects the amalgamation of everything that forms the world. It would not be overboard to call it "God". Gaia is capable to react to something that it effectively recognizes as a threat, a reaction that can vary from a small action of "coincidence" or "fate"; to cataclysmic events, like the sinking of a whole continent.

**Animus**  – The part of Gaia that is formed by the "collective unconsciousness of mammals". It is the part of the world that is responsible for the existence of mammals, their collectiveness as people and their collective will to survive. It is the concept responsible for recording names in the Throne of Heroes, as well as for making contracts with certain mammals so they will become Counter Guardians.

**Heroic Spirits**  – Mammals who, during their lives, achieved great deals of fame and reputation, allowing them to have their existence recorded in legends and history, becoming an important part of the history of mammals. Those mammals were, without doubt, the most powerful souls that ever existed, and so, as they died and entered in the afterlife, they had their names recorded in the Throne of Heroes. As a result, they were remove from the cycle of reincarnation, and the World if able to summon any of them to the earth so they can act as protectors of the future by fighting threats to mammals and to the World itself. These summoning are quite sparse and rare, but when they happen, it the heroes usually are linked to a mortal mammal, who manages them.

**Counter Guardians**  – Heroic Spirits gain their position from their fame, while these individuals are some that made direct pacts with the World, and so, upon their deaths, they were permanently remove from the cycle of reincarnation and from all afterlives, being stored beyond the boundaries of Existence to be summon in moments of need. Heroic Spirits are entities that protect the future of the world from supernatural evils. Counter Guardians, on their end, are existences whose purpose is to act as a balancing mechanism from Animus, with the purpose of preventing mammals from wiping themselves out. Their function is eliminating mammals that will represent a threat to the future of mammals as whole, sacrificing few for the shake of many more.

**The Afterlife –**  Souls are born, they live, and then they die. Upon their deaths, the souls detach from their physical bodies and they move on for another area. Due to the balance between the souls that depart from the Earth and the ones that return to out to be reincarnate, there is a period between their departure and their return, a period in which the souls spend on a specific place of their afterlife. Souls go to different places depending on their personalities and on their particular beliefs, in a way that there is a particular afterlife that is dedicated to certain kinds of souls. Putting it bluntly, almost all afterlives are real; Heaven, Limbo, Purgatory, Shangri-La, Valhalla, Elysium, and of course Hell…

Souls that depart remain on each one of these areas until the time comes for them to be reincarnate, when they leave these afterlives and are direct to the Root, which will renew their existence and send them back to the Earth to be reincarnate in a new form. Of course, the existences that were elevated to the position of Heroes and had their names written in the Throne of Heroes are considered to have reached illumination, and so, they are forever removed from the cycle of reincarnation, so they might always be present to answer the call. Due to this, a Heroic Spirit is destined to remain in its specific afterlife for all eternity…

Counter Guardians are removed not only from the reincarnation cycle, but from all afterlives, being stored in specific places that become their personal afterlife for eternity.

**The Throne of Heroes –**  The Throne of Heroes is not actually a throne, at least not in the proper sense, and neither it is something physical. The best way to define it would be to compare it with some short of archive, a list, where are written and engraved the names of figures that entered to the myths and legends and which became important names in the history. In many ways, it is say that it is a record of the most important names and figures of the history of mammals. The purpose of the Throne of Heroes, however, is to engrave and to memorize the names of the ones who managed to write stories for themselves that were so great and so significant that they became an essential part of the mammal history, even if their names would eventually be remembered only as legends. These souls that became so significant in their lives were without any doubt the most powerful souls that ever lived, and truly deserving of the title of "hero", and so, they have their names recorded into the Throne, marking them as heroes who surpassed all other souls, and who no longer have the need to be reincarnated. Some consider that the Throne of Heroes is actually a special kind of mechanism that ensures that those who became heroes will no longer be reborn, so they are always viable to be summon by the World in answer to threats.

**The Reverse Side of the World –**  This is the name given to some kind of "overlapping plane of existence", which is created by the Animus, and the "imaginary of mammals", being a place to which mystery has "leaked" with the end of the Age of Gods, a place formed by the thoughts of mammals that make the mystery of the old times still exist in this place, once the world became a place where it would no longer dwell. As a result of the very nature of this world, it is a place to which the great mystery, which no longer have place in the Age of Mammals, naturally gravitates, as much as the water of a river flowing in direction to a sea and out of the dry land. This is like a whole world outside of the World, as if the world in which mammals live was literally one side of the coin, and this world was right on the opposite side. This is a world that still overflows with Mystery, and all of the things that once existed in the Age of Gods still exist in this place, that can easily be described as a "pure manifestation of the collective fantasy of all mammals of the world". It is a place with flying mountains, dragons flying across the sky, a constant aurora, day and night, and many places that would be impossible to exist in the world, and that could only exist in this place ruled by the laws of Mystery.

**Ghosts –**  Death means the end of life, and this occurs when both heart and brain stop working. The heart is the main location of the soul, however, it is the brain that anchors the soul to the body, so much that, even if the heart is removed, the soul won't leave the body until the moment that the brain completely stops working. True death only happens in the moment of cerebral death. When this happens, she soul is detached from the body and it can "float" or even "drop" to its next stop in the cycle of reincarnation, however, that doesn't always occur. There are some occasions in which, even with the death of both heart and brain, the soul can persist into the world, not as a physical being, but as a spiritual body. These are the called ghosts. Ghosts are the souls that refused to leave the world because they found something else to serve as an anchor to their presence in this world, an "earthly attachment", which allows them to remain in this world. Some ghosts attain themselves to some kind of business that they left unfinished in this world, for example, some kind of talk that they needed to have with their loved ones to solve things, or some last personal quest that they need to see fulfilled before they are ready to depart. Ghosts can also attach themselves to places, or even to mammals, and in some cases they can even attach to emotions, like their love, their hate, or their grief, and upon this, they are able to form an anchor for their souls to the world of the living. Upon their permanence in this world, ghosts are said to continue to exist as if they were their own dream upon this world. In most cases, ghosts remain in this world until they let go of their last attachments, in which case they are finally able to move on. There are cases in which the ghosts can remain in this world to the point of going insane or being completely consumed by their negative emotions, in which point they will turn into wraiths.

**Wraiths –**  Wraiths are existences that are very similar to ghosts, but they are fundamentally different, once they are what could be called "evil spirits". Ghosts are entities that can attach themselves to nearly all kinds of things in order to remain in this world, however, the wraiths are entities that remain in this world through their own negative feelings. Rage. Hate. Resentment. Suffering. Anguish. Grief. These feelings fuel a wraith and ensure that it will remain in this world forever. Not only that, but the accumulation of the negativity coming from these feelings cause the wraiths to become vicious, leading them to lash out at the living. So, while ghosts can be harmless, and even helpful to others, wraiths are invariably violent and will harm mammals. Due to their danger, wraiths are to be dealt with the best possible ways, which includes fighting them and eliminating these creatures before they can harm innocents. Upon being defeated and even destroyed, the soul can finally free itself from suffering and move forward, even if by force. It is also said to be possible to cause a wraith to reverse or even shift from its current state to a normal ghost, and even to cause it to "pass on" to the afterlife without any need to violence, however, these happenings are very rare and sparse.

**Phantoms –**  Phantoms are not the same things as ghosts, even though a ghost can sometimes also be a phantom. Phantoms are existences that are threading the same line of the souls that became Heroic Spirits, for they are existences that achieved some fame in their lives, and this fame now manifests in their own powers and abilities. However, one cannot say that a Phantom is a Heroic Spirit, for they never were able to achieve the prestige that would be needed to be considered one, for they never reached a worldwide fame, and neither performed feats that made them be important parts of mammal history, as a result, their legends aren't great or even consistent enough for them to become Heroic Spirits. They are not legendary entities or historical facts, at most, they are urban legends. If Heroic Spirits are existences whose names were carved in the Throne of Heroes forever, phantoms had their names written in the Throne with chalk, and just as their legends weaken and disappear with time, they are fated to have their fame vanish, and so, they eventually return to the cycle of reincarnation, having been forgotten. Due to this, despite a phantom being a powerful entity, enough to kill most mortals with little effort, even the strongest phantom is no match against even the weakest of Heroic Spirits. There are rumors that it would be possible to a phantom to somehow acquire fame and substance to their legend, making them "ascend" from mere urban legends to true myths, and causing them to actually become Heroic Spirits, however, it has never happened before, and up until now, this "ascension" is nothing but a theory…

**Zombies –**  Zombies are the result when a body which's soul already departed is animated, usually through the use of necromancy. Without the soul, it is necessary to imbue magical energy into a corpse to cause it to move, resulting into the body being made into something that move propelled by a "battery" of magical energy. The soul left the body, and it is brain dead, so the corpse is unable to think or to reason, and as a result, it can only move in according to the commands of the energy that animates it. In many ways, a zombie is much like a robot, one which a necromancer can control and use as if it was a puppet. Due to their nature as being dead, zombies are immune to many maledictions that would affect the living, including poisons and electricity, and they can continue to move in despite of any wound that they would suffer, even the ones that would be lethal, and they don't feel pain or emotions of any kind. However, it is able to "kill" zombies by causing heavy damage either to their hearts or to their brains, or separating one from the other (by beheading, for instance). When killed, the zombies quickly decompose, reducing themselves to dust.

**Revenants –**  Zombie are entities that completely lack free will and only move in command with the magic that animates them, however, revenants are much more complex existences. A revenant is born when, after the death of the body, this is animated again, however, in this case, the soul either has refused to let the body or was somewhat summon back to it. The result is that the very soul remains in the corpse, and causes it to animate and move. The body is dead, the heart doesn't beat, the blood doesn't flow, and the body will only breathe due to a natural instincts of the soul that inhabits it, but there is no need for breathing. Unlike zombies, revenants retain all their memories, intelligence and personality from when they were alive, once their souls are present into the dead body. As a dead body, it has the same limitations of the zombies, being able to continue to move even in face of the severest of damage, and it will never stop, and since it is the very soul that causes the body to move, they can even ignore damage to the brain and to the heart, continue to move as long as their souls remain in the body. Revenants are rare existences, and while they can be created by the most complex magic, they can also appear naturally when the soul refuses to leave the body, managing to anchor itself to it through will and through some kind of emotion that it uses as a hook to remain in the body even after both heart and brain die. In most cases, it is a feeling of anger that causes it to remain in the body, and this is the feeling that drives most revenants, causing them to hunt down their enemies in a quest for vengeance, once the legends of revenants coming out of their graves to pursue the living. Revenants will remain in this world so long as the hook that ties their souls to their bodies exist, with their souls departing as soon as the hook is gone.

**Ghouls –**  Zombies are corpses that were animated through magic and that are devoid of all free will and rational thought. Revenants are corpses that moved by the will of their soul. Ghouls are something in between these two areas. Ghouls appear through many methods, like when a mammal drinks the blood of a dead apostle but is far too weak to become a proper dead apostle, or they can be created by dark magic, or they can even appear naturally from rare occasions when the body dies and the soul departs but the body refuses to accept the death. As entities, ghouls are like revenants, once they are not under the control of a magic force that animates them, however, they lack a soul, which already departed to the afterlife, and so they have no will and no rational mind, having been reduced to their most basic instincts, the equivalent to a beast, much like mammals who have become savage. Due to their very nature, the body of a ghoul decomposes at an accelerated rate, and to stop this process, the ghouls need to eat mammal flesh. In scientific terms, one can say that the DNA of a ghoul is constantly eroding away, resulting in their bodies decaying until they become dust, and to stop this process, they need to ingest mammal DNA. This condition applies to all mammals that became ghoul, be them predator or prey, and as a result, even the prey who become ghouls acquire predatory characteristics, like the sharp teeth needed to tear skin and flesh and the claws and muscles needed to hunt.

**Dead Apostles –**  The name of dead apostle is one that is very common for the world of mystery, but it is not as popular as the name that is given to them by the mundane: vampires. Dead apostles are born when a mammal is given the blood of a true ancestor or of another dead apostle, when this happens, the mammal will either turn into a ghoul (if too weak), or become a dead apostle themselves (if strong enough). Dead apostles suffer from a condition that causes their DNA to erode, resulting in their bodies decomposing until they become dust. In order to halt and to control this process, they need to feed periodically in mammal DNA, which they obtain by drinking the blood of mammals. Due to their transformation, dead apostles now dwell in the world of mystery, and as a result, they are superior to regular mammals in many ways, which include having superior speed, reflexes, and strength. Not only that, but they also gain several abilities, which include the " **curse of restoration** ", which activates when the vampire suffers damage, and seems like regeneration but actually is a selectively reversion of time, causing the vampire to revert damages and recover from them, even if they were lethal, however, even this has limitations, as the right amount of damage can overpass this "defense". As a dead apostle ages, they dwell more and more time in mystery, and it causes their powers to grow accordingly, resulting in them become stronger, faster, smarter, and also making them acquire all kinds of supernatural powers, like the ability to walk in walls and hypnotic powers. As times goes on, however, the erosion of their DNA gets worse, and so they need to consume more and more DNA at each meal in order to prevent their bodies from eroding away, the oldest and most powerful of the dead apostles need to take meals that are equivalent to the blood of two hundred elephants at each meal. Dead apostles are powerful entities, but they also have weaknesses, with the most famous of them being the light of the sun, which accelerates the erosion rate of their DNA and can easily reduce them to dust if exposed enough.

**True Ancestors –**  The true ancestors are a form of defense mechanism developed by the World itself in answer to the advent of the sentient in mammals, which made them develop in ways that not only they were a bigger threat to each other, but their very actions started to prove a danger to the natural balance and, consequently, to the World itself. These entities have the form of mammals, however, this is limited only to their appearance, for in their nature they are far superior to any mammal that could possibly live in this world in all aspects, physically, mentally, spiritually. It would be proper to call these creatures "greater fairies", with them being a force of nature, with the purpose of balancing the population of mammals so they would not interfere with the destiny of the world and would not eventually lead to its destruction. As spirits of the very nature, these creatures are able to survive only from the magical energy that flows in the environment around them, not needing food, water or sleep of any kind. However, since they were created as a self-defense mechanism against mammals, they do prey on them, not out of any need, but out of their own psychological impulse that lead them to feed on the blood of these creatures. With time, mammals learned to form a balance with the natural order, and so, the true ancestors were needed less and less, to the point where their population started to decline considerably, and eventually they disappeared. Some say that they went extinct, but others say that they, along with other creatures of mystery, migrated to the Reverse Side of the World. The point is, they vanished from the world, but their legacy lives on in the form of the dead apostles. The original dead apostles was a group of mammals that were captured by them and turned into immortal creatures, so they could serve as "emergency ration" for the true ancestors, but these mammals escaped, and they started to live as creatures that needed to feed on blood of mammals, not by compulsion, but for their own survival.

**Lycanthropes –**  This is a name that is used to designate mammals who change and become closer to what they were on the time of the old ages, when mammals were much more primitive and much stronger than they are on the present days. In this case, we are not just talking about mammals who were reduced to a savage state and started to walk on four legs and snarl, we are talking about mammals who physically change and to become bigger and more beast-like, turning into creatures of great strength that were said to be the true ancestors of mammals before they became sentient and turned into the ones that they are now. The name "lycanthrope" came from the great king Lycaon, the legendary king who was punished by Zeus into being turned into a beast that barely resembled the wolf that he once was, the one who is considered "the first lycanthrope". Lycanthropes are considered beings of great physical power, being creatures that are capable of "regressing" to a state in which they were still creatures much more in tune with mysteries than now, acquiring senses and strength that it should not be possible for normal mammals to have, independent of the species, and they are usually regarded as creatures of great power with little control over their actions. There are some ways in which a mammal can become a lycanthrope, with the most common being magic that allows the body to change, and it can also be the result of some kind of curse. Lycanthropes are deeply connected with the moon, with it affecting their behavior in several ways, from causing them to become "friskier" to causing them to go on frenzy.

**Phantasmal Species –**  The term "phantasmal species" is not truly a particular species, but rather a collective term that is used to describe all of the creatures that once roamed free in the world during the Age of Gods, and that now are regarded only as creatures of myth. This includes all sorts of magical beasts and other creatures that today are considered things of the imaginary, like sea monsters and even the legendary dragons. These creatures could roam freely in the world in the past, when the mystery was overflowing in the world, resulting in different laws of reality than the ones that exist today. However, with the end of the Age of Gods, the mystery started to wane, and the result of this was that these creatures could less and less move around in this world, as their very nature as beings of mystery was no longer fitting the new reality that this world was becoming. The result was that these creatures started to die and to diminish in number, until the moment when they finally were forced to flee from this world into what we know as "the reverse side of the World", where they could continue to exist as if the memory was still abundant. Some of the creatures of the phantasmal kind remained in the world, but they are few and they are all hidden, to the point of seeing one with your own eyes is considered a tall-tale, even among mages. There are occasions in which it is possible to summon creatures of the phantasmal kind, but it is consider one of the most elevated of the High-Thaumaturgy. One that only the most powerful mages are able to produce. That is because these creatures belong to a time of mystery, and summoning them involves creating enough mystery to make their existence possible, and this is a very hard trick, even if it only lasts for a few minutes.

**Dragon Kind –**  This is a group of creatures that are considered to be part of the collective known as "phantasmal species", however, at the same time, they are into a very category of their own, once the dragons are the most powerful of all of the creatures that originated from mystery, earning the title of "king of monsters". Creatures of the dragon kind are the most powerful of all of the beings of the old mysteries, and all of the legends depict dragons as the most powerful and magnificent of beasts, from the terrible dragons who burn down villages and devours mammals, to the wise dragons of the eastern culture that served as protectors and as guides for the people and heroes. Dragons are beings of so deep mystery and so massive power that now that the mystery has reduced so much, there is just no way that the existence of these creatures combine with this world, so much that any attempt of summoning them would often result in failure and in the death of the ones involved in the rituals. Dragons are creature of power beyond anything that could possible materialize in the modern world, save for Heroic Spirits, and even those would have problems to face and defeat a dragon. In addition, due to their massive power, dragons are gluttons, as many often say that dragons are "creatures that devour mammals only by existing".

**Daemons –**  Daemons are existences that were brought to the world by the negative emotions and ideals of mammals, accumulated and materialized in the form of entities that are the pure manifestation of these emotions and ideas. Daemons appear when the negativity generated by the emotions and ideas of mammals accumulate so much that it starts to think and to react on its own, until it turns into something that is capable of moving and attacking other creatures on its own accord. As they are a materialization of the negativity of mammals, they tend to have the wickedest of intentions, which usually involve hunting and killing mammals, even because they need to feed on the psychic/spiritual energy of living mammals in order to survive, and they usually do that by inducing negative emotions in mammals, like fear, pain and despair. These creatures have shapes that are influenced by the emotions and ideas that gave birth to them, and usually most of them are monstrous and demoniac in appearance, and it causes many to describe them as demons, even though they are different existences. It would not be far-fetched to say that daemons are the result of the nightmares of mammals materialized in the world. Daemons are ideas, concepts, and as so, they are immune to most forms of weapons and damages that does not come from magic or from conceptual weapons, since the only thing that can kill an idea is another idea.

**Demons –**  Demons are existences that are said to be similar to daemons, but they are on a much higher level. These creatures were born from the negativity that exists in World, focused and condensed until it could take a real form and manifest as something that was capable of thought and even of reason. If daemons are the nightmares of mammals, then the true demons are nightmares of the World itself. Due to their nature as something that originated from the very World, demons are far above the daemons, born from the negativity of mammals, and they are also above mammals themselves. Daemons can be killed by mammals (with a lot of difficulty), however, demons are too powerful, and if facing a demon, there are very few things that a mammal can actually do more than be a little fly buzzing in front of their faces. Demons have interests in mortals that change in accordance to their own ideas and conveniences, resulting in some seeing them as useless creatures, some seeing them as useful tools, others seeing them as fun playthings. Due to their great power and the great mystery associated to them, unlike daemons, the demons cannot properly materialize in the world, unless they have a good source of magic energy to supply them, and the most common way for them to interact in earth is by possessing a mortal. In cases in which a demon is able to materialize in the world, they manifest as entities of so much power that they might represent a threat to the very World, and this, of course, will cause the Gaia and Animus to react by summoning Heroic Spirits to fight this threat. Mammals cannot defeat demons, no matter how hard they try, but heroes have a great capacity to defeat them, as long as there is a mammal supplying them and guiding their actions. You can say that it is kind of like "rock, paper, scissors": demons devour mammals, heroes kill demons, mammals manage heroes.

**Angels –**  Demons are entities born from the negativity of the world, angels, on their end, are the opposite spectrum, the materialization and condensation of the positive aspects of the World. If demons are Gaia's nightmare, angels are it's dreams. Angels as the manifestation of the positive ideals of the world, and they are entities of great power that are often associated with miracles and with the divine. They sometimes act as part of the defense mechanisms of the World, with example of this being the times when mammals were said to have received visits of angels giving them revelations, they are even powerful enough to clash with demons on equal terms. However, due to their nature as manifestations of the pure positivity of the World, angels are fickle entities that have their own conveniences and their own agendas, in a way that most of them are far too unreliable to act as defenders of the future, that is why Gaia mostly resorts to Heroic Spirits, once they were mammals who fought for their ideals in life, and so they are much more reliable to defend the world. Angels are entities of such positivity that they are above mammals in many ways, and they think in ways that even the most enlightened mammals can't even begin to understand, resulting into them being virtuous, but at the same time utterly unpredictable, and as inclined to save a mammal from the edges of despair as they are of throwing them there themselves. Due to their nature, angels cannot properly materialize in this world unless they have a great amount of magic energy to supply them, but they can insert themselves and their power in the body of a mammal, in order to interact with the world in limited ways through their vessel. Note that being the vessel of an angel is completely different than being possessed by a demon…

**Elementals –**  Also referred to as "nature spirits", the elementals are living manifestations of the aspects of the world that have gained substance and were able to create physical forms, they are manifestations of the very elements of nature in shapes that are familiar to mammals. There are all kinds of elementals, like sirens, fairies, gnomes, all of them resemble mammals, but all of them are aspects of the nature that are so powerful that they manifest in physical form. As manifestations of nature, these creatures are made out mostly of instinct, and they are said to be as unpredictable and indomitable as nature itself, but still, it is possible to, sometimes, reach some kind of mutual understanding with these creatures, especially if the one trying to make contact is considered to have a high connection with nature. It is possible to use the modern magecraft to summon elementals, even though the ones that are summon this magic are the very elements of nature condensed and given a consciousness, albeit temporarily, and they are considerably less powerful than the elementals that dwelled in the world during the Age of Gods, entities of nature that were so powerful that they were very close to the gods themselves.

**The Great Age of Gods**  – A period of time of millenniums ago, when the world was still ruled by the laws of mystery and when the True Magic was still strong in the world.

**Great Age of Mammals**  – The present era, in which mystery has become very thin, and in which the laws of physics now rule the world.

**Animunculus**  – Plural, animunculi. These are creatures generated through magecraft. Artificial mammals generated by alchemical processes and which usually are created within certain specifications for the needs of their creators. In the past, these creatures were seen not as mammals, and treated only as disposable resources, however, in the recent past (around three hundred years ago) a clan of wolves developed a new set of laws, including the law that specifies that anything that has a mind and soul of its own, and is capable of thought and feeling, is a life. If you create a life, you are entirely responsible for it. It ruled better the creation of future animunculi, but didn't elevated them to the same ranking as mammals…

**The Holy Grail War**  – It is a High-Thaumaturgy ritual that was designed in the 18th century, and which allows the ones who use it to be able to tap into the natural process that is related to the Holy Grail and the natural protection of the World of Heroic Spirits. This ritual was created by the combined efforts of the Bellwethers, the Wildes, and the Höhle, three of the oldest, richest, most powerful and influent mage families of the whole world. To the ritual, are needed seven mages that will be the Masters of the summoned Servants, and also a great amount of magic circuits that were naturally formed within the land, and which would serve to channel the mana necessary for something of this magnitude. The first component is due to the summon of the seven Servants that will serve to fill the Grail with their magic and complete the final of the ritual. The second component is a lot trickier, in fact, the whole ritual only became possible after this second component, a massive amount of natural magic circuits right into the land, was discovered into the new world (their America, where the city of Zootopia would later be founded). Due to the nature of the ritual, one Servant of each one of the seven basic classes is summoned, even though it is possible to alter parts of the ritual to obtain certain interesting burling of the rules…

**The Holy Grail**  – This is not the same Holy Grail mentioned in the sacred books and that was said to have served as the recipient of the blood of the messiah. This is a much more ancient existence, and consist into a spiritual body that has the function of receiving the magical energy of the Servants who were killed during their summoning to the world. The basic function of it is to serve as a reservoir of energy that will allow a Servant to draw extra energies to fight any threats, however, it can be accessed to serve to other purposes, especially in relation to the Holy Grail War Ritual. It was theorized that the combined energy of seven Servants would generate a limitless amount of magic energy, which would allow to open a direct gateway to the Root, what would allow it to be touched. However, as the goal was reached, the mages discovered that due to the nature of the Grail as a spiritual body, it could only be activated by another spiritual body, in other words: only a Servant could touch and activate the Grail. In the future, they perceived that the energy of six Servants was not enough to reach for the Root, but was enough to change reality and allow for a wish to be realized. So, with the Servant working as a medium, both Master and Servant can each have one wish granted…

**The Three Founding Clans –**  The three clans of mages that gathered their force and knowledge to create the Holy Grail War ritual, back in the 17th century. The Bellwethers, the Wildes, and the Höhle. As their status as the creators of the ritual itself, each one of the three families has a spot secured in the War. As a result, from all of the Holy Grail Wars from the first one until today, at least one member of each one of these families was a Master.

**The Bellwethers –**  A family of sheep, one of the oldest and most important mage families of the world and surely the most powerful and oldest of all sheep mage families. This family is famous for their great advances in the area of alchemy, in particular in their research and advents in the development of animunculi and other derived creatures, including fabricated familiars of all kinds. Rumors say that they have the necessary resources and skill to create a whole army of animunculi and of alchemically enhanced familiars that resemble genetic experiences came out of sci-fi horror movies, and that it would allow them to take a whole country if they wanted. Despite their great success in the area of animunculi, they are also skilled in the creation of potions and elixirs of all kinds, and there are even rumors that the Bellwether clan would be developing an elixir that would slow down or even stop the aging process, allowing its members to live far more than any normal mammal should be able to. Due to the set of laws recently installed by a wolf clan a few centuries ago, their advances were halted in many ways, and this is something that the Bellwether clan took personally, and they sometimes tend to ignore these laws for the shake of their own conveniences. Another area in which they are particularly skilled is in the use of hypnotic spells, having developed many spells that are still used today, including spells that alter memories and subjugate the wills of other mammals. Their knowledge in alchemy was crucial for the handling and refining of the magic circuits of the land that made the Holy Grail War ritual possible.

Another thing that the Bellwethers are famous for is for the great prejudice that they nurture towards predators, a legacy that came from the founder of their clan, the noble knight Mordred, the Bellwether…

On more recent things, the name Bellwether is known for the attempt of a younger member of this family to enter politics and devising a plot against the predators of Zootopia…

**The Wildes –**  One of the most powerful and influent families of mages of the world, and the oldest and most powerful of all fox clans in the world of mages. This clan is know for their great knowledge of the Kabbalah system of magic, which is one of the oldest and most efficient systems that exist, being even considered a reminiscence of Age of Gods, and some even connect its very origin to the ancestors of the Wilde clan. The knowledge of the kabbalah allows them to have a great power on elemental and summoning magic. Their elemental magic is famous all across the world, and they are also said to be amazing at using the kabbalah knowledge to be able to fabricate Mystic Codes superior to the ones created by any other clan, as well as for their creation of golems. They are also famous for their special summoning magic, which is associated to their own elemental magic, allowing them to summon minor elementals to act as their servants and familiars. Some say that the Wildes even have the capacity to summon a whole army of elemental spirits, along with the potential to create an army of golems, and they could potentially use it to take over a whole country. Their knowledge in the kabbalah system and their elemental magic was essential for them to deal with the energies necessary to the realization of the Holy Grail War ritual.

Recently, the Wilde clan has lost some of its prestige due to an event on a Holy Grail War over three decades ago: when a member of the clan who had become a Master, Sophie Wilde, was betrayed and nearly killed by her own Servant. She was sunned away after this, for she was a shame for the clan, but Sophie was actually glad for it, for she had long wanted to cut ties with them. She moved away from the clan and from the world of mages, and had her own son, who recently became the first fox to join the ZPD…

**The Höhle –**  One of the oldest, most powerful and most influent mage clans of the world, and the most powerful who are all bunnies and relatives. This clan is particularly famous for their sinister activities, once their specialization is necromancy. They are famous for their rituals that deal in the art of necromancy, which includes animation corpses to create all kinds of living dead, and using parts of the bodies of dead mammals to fabricate all kinds of objects, including Mystic Codes. There are even legends that they have a whole army of zombies in their power, ready to be controlled by any member of the clan who has the necessary knowledge. They are respected as much as they are feared, and some say that long ago the founder of this clan sold his soul and the ones of every one of his descendants in exchange for the power that they possess now. Their disregard for the lives of other mammals, including their own members, is famous, and is one of the things that make this family of bunnies be able to cause much bigger mammals to be intimidated by their mere presence. They are famous for invading graveyards and stealing corpses from the graves, as well as buying it from hospitals and from morgues. They are also skilled in many other forms of what is considered witchcraft and black magic, like the casting of curses and the spells that deal with life force. Their knowledge of the mysteries that surround death and what comes after were essential for the specific magic that is related to the spiritual aspect that is the Holy Grail War, which summons the souls of the dead to the present.

The clan is famous for starting the training of their members very early, so the ones born to this clan have to be around corpses practically since they are toddlers, and many think that this affects the members of the clan as they grow up. Some come out twisted and sinister as the most famous members of this clan, others turn out relatively normal, some of them even do not handle this and end up leaving the clan behind, one way or another. Among these, a famous one was Helga Höhle, who left the clan an adult and cut any and all ties with them, changing her name and starting to live as a mundane. She even met a mundane who became her husband, and now she lives with him in his farm under the name of Bonnie Hopps, proud mother of over three hundred bunnies, including a certain police officer bunny…

**Magical Energy –**  It is the name given to the form of energy that allows one to actualize the effects of magecraft, serving as a fuel to the effects of magic that are present in the modern day. This energy has received many names in history and in different cultures, including "chi" and prana, but it is all basically the same thing.

**Mana –**  This is the name given to the magic energy that is produced by the World itself. It can be found in the atmosphere, and it naturally flows around the world and in the ley lines, and it is possible to tap on it to use for several purposes. However, once it is used the world takes a while to replenish it, resulting in that area being deprived of mana for a while. This energy works as the life force of the planet itself.

**Od –**  Mana is the magic energy produced by the world, Od is the magic energy of all the living creatures, mammal and otherwise, and which works as their life-force, the life blood of the soul. This is the kind of energy that is produced by one's soul for as long as one live, though the amount that can be stored in the body changes from mammal to mammal, even among ones of the same species. The difference is that is exists in far less quantity than mana, which is everywhere, but still, it can be used to fuel spells as the first option.

**True Ether –**  It is the name given to the true magical energy that flowed freely during the Age of Gods, supposedly coming from the root itself. It is described as one of the elements that was essential to giving birth to the planet. It no longer exists in the modern era.

**Magic Circuits –**  Are a pseudo-nervous system that spreads all across the body of a mammal and qualify it to be a mage. Their most basic function is to convert the Od, the natural energy of the soul, into magic energy, but mammals had found a way to use it to perform mysteries. Magic circuits are like pipelines that carry magic energy across the body, allowing mages to be able to realize exchanges of magic energy with the world itself. These circuits are not actually physical, but they are something that is created by the very soul of a mage, and they spread across the whole body as if they were the nervous system, but conducting magical energy instead of neural impulses, and since they are generated by the very soul, they disappear in the moment when the soul leaves the body. The quantity and quality of the magical circuits influence directly in the amount of magical power of a mage, for example, someone with magic circuits of high quality will be able to conduct energy better than someone with low quality, and someone with a many magic circuits will be able to conduct much more energy than someone with few, basically, both quantity and quality affect the output of magical energy, directly influencing the magic capacity of a mage. The amount of magic circuits that someone possess is something that is fix in them from the moment of their births, as it is the amount of organs they have in their bodies, and it cannot increase or decrease naturally with time, even though there are many ways to affect them. Magical circuits are something unnatural for the mammal body to have, and mundane mammals will have little to none, however, there are cases in which regular mammals acquired magic circuits, and even of mages that acquired circuits that they never had before in their bloodlines. Their activity causes the very circuits to act up, heating up the same way that the circuits of a computer would by channeling electricity, depending on the way they are used, they might start to cause pain or numbness in the mage, and there are reports of mages that used so much magical energy that they actually "burned" part of their magic circuits, effectively destroying them.

Magic circuits are rarely opened from birth, and they usually are opened up for the first time by passing magic energy through them, a process that tends to be quite painful. From that point on, a mage can freely activate magic circuits by using a mental image, one that can vary greatly from one person into another, but it usually tends to be something significant or impacting for the mage. For instance, the face of a loved one, a memory of a particular moment, being stab in the heart, being shoot, forcing one's own hand on fire, the image of an object with sentimental value... There are also cases in which the magic circuits can only be triggered under certain conditions, like self-injury or even sexual excitement.

Due to the nature of magic circuits, they work as something that can be inherited, even though they come from the soul, as a result, the longer and most efficient a bloodline is, the better is the chance of the future generation having circuits of an even greater quality. Because of this, it is still a common occurrence in the oldest and most traditional families of mages to choose marriage based not on love, but based on partners that have better chance of generating offspring with superior magic circuits, to ensure that the family will continue to get stronger.

**Magic Crest –**  The magic crest if the most important treasure of any lineage of mages. It consists into a series of magic circuits that were given a most stable from to be turned into a storage of magical knowledge. At some point of their lives, a mage will add magic circuits to the crest, storing in it most, if not all, of the spells that they learned in life and pass it down to their successor. The more magic circuits a crest possesses, the more stable it becomes, and it easier it is to access the spells stored in it, which increase considerably with each possessor. This way, the magic crest represents the combined knowledge of all of a family of mages, and a mage has the duty of expand and passing down the magic crest to ensure that it will continue to grow and that their clan will become more and more powerful. In order to activate the crest, a mage just needs to pass magic energy through it, very much the way that they would through any other magic circuit, and this way, they are able to access and utilize any spell stored in it, even if they never learned it themselves.

Due to its nature as a magic circuit, it cannot be detected when not in use, and it is independent from the mage's own magic circuits, however, it is something that is "transplanted" from one mage into another, and so, it is very much like transplanting an organ. In other words, it demands the receptor being compatible with the donator, otherwise rejection will occur. Usually it means that the one receiving it must be from the same bloodline, even though this is not a rule, and there are some reported cases of the crest being actually transferred to someone of a completely different species (!). However, the compatibility of the receptor increases the chances of rejection, which are high even between close relatives. To avoid such a thing, it is common practice for mages to start transferring their magic crests to their successors little by little, since a young age, for the body to get accustomed to the to the crest and not rejecting it. It is also normal to use a special medicine made up from special herbs and crushed bones during the process the prevent rejection. A magic crest can only be inherited by one person, so it is a tradition to it be passed either to the oldest or the most talented child of each generation of the family.

**Mystic Codes –**  A mystic code is a type of magical artifact that mages carry and use as a weapon, and in some cases, it is even the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of a mage. These objects can usually come in two types:

**_Amplifiers_**  are mystic codes that have the function of canalizing and amplifying magecraft, being objects that serve for the amplification and storage of magical energy, prepared to strengthen the spells of a mage. They are the most orthodox type of mystic code.

The second kind is the " ** _specialized_** ", and these have a predetermined usage. They are activate by supplying them with magical energy, and they are created to do a specific function, being able to perform this specific mystery in any occasion so long as they receive magical energy. This kind of mystic code is a spell on itself, and most of the Noble Phantasms of Servants are of this kind. Their usage is unique, so they are not generic, however, they can be extremely efficient in what they do.

**Magecraft –**  Also referred to as "thaumaturgy", is what many of the mundane would call simply "magic", however, any mage knows that this is far more complex than this. The true magic was something that existed into the age of gods, and something that has been lost to the world with its end. Instead, magecraft is the "magic science", the kind of art that is made as an imitation of the true magic, the mysteries and miracles that existed in the ancient times, when the true ether flowed free across the world. Thaumaturgy is an art of using the energy of the magic energy in order to alter reality, as if it was a form of science that works through supernatural means, turning one's thoughts into reality. However, it is not true magic, once the connection with the root seems to have been lost, and now all the mages inspire to reach it once more. It is not possible to realize the feats of magic from old days, like making mountains float or causing continents to sink, once the power is just too massive. Also, magic does not allow doing impossible things, like resurrecting the dead and time traveling, even with infinite research, it is like there is a "wall" in there that just can't be crossed, and anything beyond that wall is True Magic.

**True Magic –**  Also referred to as "sorcery" or just as "Magic", it is the true art of magic, the true force of miracles that once ruled the world so long ago. It is easy to differ it from thaumaturgy, once the magic science has several limitations, like only being able to work with the magic energy supplied by the mages themselves, and like being only able to recreate phenomena of nature. True magic is something much more powerful and much deeper, for it involves altering reality itself, bending time and space in ways that even science could not even begin to comprehend, and even resulting in the true resurrection of the dead. It is nowadays used to describe a myriad of effects that are said to be impossible to reproduce by mammals of the modern day, both mundane and mages, once it relied on the connection with the root, the source of all knowledge and power, and which has been lost so long ago. Some families of mages inspire for the True Magic, and have dedicated their whole lives trying to come even close of the miracles that it is capable of.

**Origin –**  The origin is the driving force that defines one's soul and affects their actions all through their lives. An origin is defined and attributed to a soul by the Root itself, and it is considered the very nature of the soul, that which the soul was made. The actions of a mammal are defined form the moment they enter this world by their origin, but this is not something active, being mostly an instinct that pushes mammals into a determined direction, and they many times don't even realize or understand this particular drive to their actions. Most of mammals out there have their origins "dormant" in a way that they are only some kind of "nudging" or "instinct" that pulls them into a certain direction or even gives them a certain talent, but there are ways in which an origin can be "awakened". Once the origin is awakened, it stops being a mere instinct and becomes a true driving force that guides the action of a mammal, even to the point of completely rewriting their personalities, and from that point on it is nearly impossible to stray from them. Therefore, it can be dangerous to awaken one's origin, but it can also be advantageous, for depending on the origin, it can improve the abilities that a mammal already possess, or even give them entirely new kinds of abilities that match their origin, becoming something that can actually offer a lot to a mammal. That is why some mages chose to awake their origins. The ones who do somehow find ways to connect their own magecraft to their origins, allowing them to become amazing specialists in a particular form of magecraft, and this gives them a wide variety of advantages throughout their lives. An origin is something that defines the soul, and some say that it is with the soul even before its birth, as it leaves the root to be once more reborn in the physical plane, so, changing it is not something that one can do at any given moment, but it is not impossible, just extremely hard and rare. In addition, usually a mammal has a single concept as their origin, but in very rare cases, a mammal can have two different concepts as their origins, for instance: Creating and Biding, or Passion and Temperance.

**Mage –**  Also referred to as "magus", plural "magi". The term used for the ones who are capable of practicing thaumaturgy due to the possession of magic circuits, what allows them to perform mysteries through the manipulation of magical energy. Mages normally come from lineages of magic families; however, it is perfectly possible for a mammal to be a mage despite having been born from non-mage father and mother.

There are all kinds of mages around, just as there are all kinds of mammals, with the most varied individuals between each species. Of course, the oldest families of mages still attain to some of their old ways, which mostly revolve around focusing on the increasing of their power and magecraft while distancing themselves from the moralities and ethics that most mammals possess, as well as involving in petty power struggles and political dances with other mage families. In many ways, these noble and old families of mages are not different from the aristocratic and rich mundane families. Of course, after the advent of the New Mage Codex, the laws of mages changed, making them get more in tone with the moralities that most mundane society have, even though some of the oldest families still break or even blatantly ignore the laws. It is not unusual for mages using several kinds of magecraft to increase their own lifespan, with some of the oldest mages alive having been around for a few centuries.

**Magician –**  This is not the "stage magicians" that are so popular among mundanes. A term used by the mage community to define the ones who make use of True Magic, the ones who are capable of using the transcendental force that is able to bring forth the true miracles that even the most powerful of thaumaturgy cannot hope to imitate. Most of the Servants of the Caster-Class classify as this, for they are wizards and sorcerers who lived in the Age of Gods, when the true magic was still abundant.

**Mundane –** This is a word that has deeply popularized in the community of mages and used to refer to the ones who do not possess magic circuits and are, therefore, not mages. It is considered by many a slang, and a less formal way of saying "non-mage".

**The Swirl of the Root –**  Also referred to as "The Outside of the World", or simply as "The Root". It is something that exists above all other things in the world, a metaphysical location that serves as an archive for everything that was and everything that is, from Gods and the World itself to every mammal that lives or has ever lived. It is said to have been the place from which all souls first originated, and to which all of them will come one day so they can be then sent back to the world to reincarnate. The root is said to be the starting point, the one and true origin of everything, including the origin of True Magic. It is say that, if someone manages to reach the root and touch it, this individual will acquire knowledge and power beyond anything, allowing to completely erase the meaning of "impossible", and this individual will effectively become "God", hence why it is the main goal and aspiration of whole families of mages.

**The Mage's Association –**  The Mage's Association is an international organization formed by the practitioners of magecraft who focus on the management and developing of the magic science, reuniting most mage families, both old and new, and most of the most powerful mages of the world in their rankings. The main goals of the Association is to guarantee the advance of the magecraft, the education and ensuring of the future generations of mages, and ensuring the integrity and protection of the mages. Due to their power and influence, the Association even possess their own military force, compromised by elite mages, and which serves for them to protect themselves from external threats, which includes other associations or organizations, as well as mundanes who know of their existence and who pursue and hunt mages, and even from supernatural evils that prey on mammals. The association also makes active effort to apply the laws of magecraft, so these laws are followed, for that, they use their military force as a police force that watches, acts, and punishes according to the needs, to ensure that the laws are going to be follow and that the ones who break them are properly disciplined.

**The New Mage Codex –** This is a new set of rules and regulations of mages that was created by a certain clan of wolves who were compromised into inserting morals and ethics in the behavior of mages. This is a whole set of rules that was approved by nearly all other clans, and which institute many laws that are to be obeyed. Before the codex, mages acted as they pleased, making sacrifices, killing witnesses of magic, and doing all kinds of atrocious things, and all of that was allowed, as long as they did not risk exposing magic to the mundanes. Due to this codex, mages had morality inserted to their behavior, and now, these laws have made mammals behave with more ethics in their works. All mages still search for the Root, but they are now much more composed on their behavior, refraining from using things that would be considered monstrous and from committing murders and getting away with it. In many ways, these laws are very similar to the laws of the mundane society, which include punishments for murders and ethical behaviors for magic that are similar to the ones of the science. Still, there are some of the oldest families that don't like those laws, and prefer to break them when it is convenient, in particular, the Bellwethers, who saw those laws as a direct attack to their activities, and made them develop a strong animosity with that wolf clan.

**The Holy Church –**  Also referred to simply as "The Church", is an organization that is deeply associated with the ruling religion of the world of Zootopia, and that was base mostly in the teachings and designations of Caprian of Cartago, said to be the founder of most of their practices and beliefs. They are a religious group that uses their own form of thaumaturgy to carry on different missions, a thaumaturgy that is the ones known as "sacraments", one kind of magecraft created by Caspian of Cartago himself. As a whole, the function of the Church is the protection of mammals from the evils from supernatural origins, fighting them and managing them so they won't pose a threat to the innocents. In many ways, they are the equivalent to the Templar knights of the modern days, fighting in name of God to ensure the future of mammals and to protecting the world from abominable evils. They have all kinds of workers on their ranks, each one with a specialization; with the ones who are the most famous being their exorcists and their executors. Exorcists work to break the influence of supernatural evils over mammals to free them from the grips of a possession or a curse. The executors, on their end, focus on hunting and, when necessary, eliminating the existences that threaten the mammals, like daemons and vampires.

Initially, they are a group that defends all innocent mammals from evils, no matter their religion or origins. However, since it is a religious group, it is not surprise that some among them are overzealous, to the point of fanaticism.

* * *

**AN 1:**  Yes, Judy and Nick's mothers both are mages, and so are their children, however, the two women have long cut ties with their respective clans. They chose to never even let their children or close relatives to take knowledge of their nature as mages, for they decided that it was better for their children to be away from all of this. Many consider them as failures in this aspect, for they choose to act as mothers before acting as mages.

**AN 2:**  Dawn Bellwether is a member of an old and powerful mage clan, but she is not in any position of power because of this. It turns out that Dawn was a "fiasco", having been born with so little magic circuits, and of such a poor quality, that she would never be able to do more than the simplest and most basic of spells on her own. Due to this, she feel in great disfavor to the rest of her clan, and she has spent all of her life trying to prove her worth to them. In fact, the Night Howler Conspiracy was not an attack based on personal prejudices over predators, neither a personal crusade, not even a scheme to put herself in a place of political power. This whole plot against the predators of Zootopia was, more than anything, an attempt to impress and gain the favor of her clan.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**The Darkest Hour – "** The Darkest Hour", a name that many use to refer to an event that happened in a very recent history. Actually, this event happened roughly one and a half year after the end of the Night Howler Conspiracy, around one year after Nicholas Wilde became the first fox of Zootopia. This even in itself did not happened in Zootopia, but it happened on another city, one that was nearly as big as Zootopia, and famous on its own right. In that city, happened the disaster that would come to be know by the world as the Darkest Hour.

It started in the middle of the night, roughly at midnight, when people saw a bright light shining in the sky. Some believed it to be some kind of aircraft, but the fact that it shone so brightly was something that deeply worried everyone, and soon, all eyes were on the sky as that light shone. Then, another light appeared, as a bright red comet that rose from the city and hit the first light. Then, all they saw was red, as both lights exploded, generating a burst of light that nothing in the natural world would be able to produce, shocking and baffling everyone who saw it. Soon, the explosion was over, and everyone thought that it was over, however, they were soon proved wrong. Form the place of the explosion, an orb of the purest blackness appeared, and from that orb, disaster rained, or better, it cascaded into the city.

Around seven million mammals lived in there, but after the Darkest Hour, only a couple dozens were find among the debris of the destroyed city. It was a disaster that was without any precedents, and it would be only that, if that disaster had not been captured on tape by a helicopter team that was flying in the very moment, transmitting the disaster in national scale.

The mage community tried on the best of their skills to suppress everything. However, they could not fight the curiosity and the thirsty for answers of the world, neither the way that information moves in the world. The Darkest Hour was the beginning of the Great Revealing…

**The Great Revealing –** Even the dumbest of the mundanes was able to tell that the Darkest Hour was not a natural event, and it was just what it took for questions to start to be asked, questions that became harder and harder to avoid. During the following weeks, there were all kinds of new events appearing everywhere in social medias and on the news, from mages caught on tape to sightings of unnatural things.

No matter how much the mage community tried, it seemed that there was no turning back, the silence cone had finally fallen, the curtain was finally lift, the world finally knew. It was the revelation of the existence of magic and the supernatural.

Needless to say, this event shook the world to its very core, and that things would never be the same. People now knew that there were mages living out there. It was surely mind-blowing for anyone who had always believed in the supernatural. It was something that shocked the scientific community, who refused to accept the existence of magic, but saw themselves with no choice but to accept this new reality. Of course, many thought it to be frightening, and this, of course, lead to a whole "anti-magic" campaign from the most conservative and ignorant part of the society. Some even feared the return of all the old witch-hunts. The following few months were extremely tense. Until the Interview of the Millennia…

**The Interview of the Millennia –** The time following the Great Revealing was tense for everyone. The mundanes were afraid that the mages would use their magic against them. The mages were worried on how the mundanes would act, and that this could represent a danger to their whole community, in fact, many of them were ready to use their magic on their defense. They were making preparations to hypnotize and control important leaders and preparing powerful rituals that would shake the world and made sure that the mundanes would leave them alone.

However, the first one to act was a mage who was not powerful, nor was he member of an important family. He was simply someone who was tired of that, and he had his own idea of how to end the madness. He started by contacting a young reporter and promising a story that could possibly put her in history, and she accepted.

Two days later, she was going to the determined place with the few members of her news crew, and in there, they meet the young mage, who said he was ready to let the world know more about who they were.

What resulted from this would come to be know as the "Interview of the Millennia". A six and a half hours interview in which that young mage clarified to the world all that they needed to know about the mage community. Starting with the explanations of how mages had their powers, and explaining about the nature of their magic circuits, and developing through the nature of magical energy, od, mana, passing by the mechanics of the most important schools of magic and to the mechanics of thaumaturgy. He explained how there were things that were impossible even with magic, like time travel and bringing the dead back to life. He explained how there was a time when magic was abundant in the world, but this magi waned and eventually all that was left were small traits of its existence. He explained how the magic community operated (nothing precise, only general notions). The Mage's Association purposes and works. The laws instituted by the New Mage Codex. All of that was explain by that young mage. In the end, he finished with a heartfelt request to the world to allow mages to follow their path, and to at least give them a chance, after all, despite their magical powers, they were still mammals.

This interview generated all kinds of mixed reactions, both form mages and mundanes. There was anger. Outrage. Happiness. Wonder. Disdain. Sympathy. Hate. Dismissal. Acceptance. Pity. Both sides, in relation to what that young mage did, felt all kinds of emotions. Still, somehow it all worked well in the end, for the world seemed to take the words of the mage to their hearts. The mage only said that he "helped them understand better what was going on so they were less scary". Other mages would often say that the young mage managed to "turn the stupidest decision someone could make into the smartest thing that someone could have possible done".

The moods calmed (relatively) after this, and the mundanes were more willing to hear the mages and less scared of their skills, even though many still felt surprised for the revelation. The mages were able to relax, even the ones who were preparing to a war, and as it turned out, the revelation of magic perhaps would not be the disaster that they always thought. From that point on, the mages started to have more contact with the world in the form of representatives, this would improve the relations between them and prepare the world for this new reality, and that young mage became an instant celebrity.

From that point on, there was the forthcoming of groups and associations other than the Mage's Association that wanted to make themselves known, not to mention the coming of prominent figures in the whole world who presented themselves as mages, both the ones who actually were and the ones who were frauds. With the stage set for them, they had mixed receptions, and some of them proved to be quite popular, while others became targets,

Of course, there are still secrets that are well keep. For instance, reveal the names of any mages and of the clans can only be done with permission of the same, as a way of protecting the mages from possible persecutions, and for them to have their privacy preserved. As well as the location of the headquarters of the Mage's Association, to preserve it from future attacks from extremist groups. In addition, there are many things about the world of magic that the mundane world is still not fully aware of, for example, the true nature of Animunculi, the whole truth about the Age of Gods, and the great high-thaumaturgy rituals, like the Holy Grail War. The mages want to preserve more sensitive information until the world has grew used to them enough not to be too much of a shock to them…

**The Mieczyslaw –**  This is say to be one of the oldest and most powerful family of mages of the whole world. Better yet, these two families. The Mieczyslaw clan is say to be descendant from the legendary fox Mieczyslaw and from one of the children of Fenrir; as so, the members of the clan have a very special blood running through their veins. Since Mieczyslaw was a fox, and the child of Fenrir was a wolf, the clan itself is divide in two subfamilies: the fox side and the wolf side. Due to the past of the clan, they are specialized in the art of magecraft using runes. Despite the fact that the real runes got lost with the end of the Age of Gods, they still hold a lot of potential into the runes that they use, exceeding into their use, even though most mages consider runes to be a minor part of the modern magecraft. The Mieczyslaw clan is also famous for their collection of artifacts from old ages, many of which are ancient Sacred Relics that were said to be among the collections of Mieczyslaw himself, and they still search for the ones that were lost, aiming to recover them in order to restore the "glory of the clan". The fox portion of the clan is debate to be the actual oldest fox family of the world, even older than the Wildes are, but the Wildes still surpass them in sheer magical power, influence and wealth, making many favor them. The wolf portion of the clan is also famous for working to keep order and to protect others, something that comes from Volga Mieczyslaw, an ancestor of the wolf part of the clan; matter of fact, the New Mage Codex was create by a member of the wolf part of the clan.

**The Clawhausers –**  This is one of the most influent and rich families of the world of mages, a clan of cheetahs. This clan is famous for their many advances in the area of magic of kinetic force and of mental magic. The specialization of the clan is the one of using kinetic force in spells and spells that affect and manipulate the mind, making many define them as "psychics" who have "telekinetic and telepathic capacities". Recently, the clan passed by a certain scandal that affected their reputation, when it was reveal that the oldest child of the clan was abusing and mistreating his younger siblings. Upon the revelation, the heads of the clan were quick and firm, and they cast aside that member in order to protect the siblings. The Clawhauser clan is famous for being "eccentric", being the kind of family that, despite being one of the oldest, they are not in tune with traditions, and they much rather follow their own passions than following traditions, and often putting the wellbeing of their children above the development of the clan, as most mages do. Some even label them as "disgraces" or even as "crazy", still, the Clawhauser clan has enough influence and money to be able to silence most of the ones who oppose him and to make sure that no one will try to oppose them publically, except for the ones who had as much or more influence than they. As it is to be expected, few mage families do fit in this description.

Benjamin Clawhauser is a member of this clan, but he has cut ties with the magical world for his own personal reasons. Still, Ben is still dear and loved by his family, and they are happy to have him whenever he wants to come, and they are often trying to persuade him to come back to the clan.

**The Savages –** The Savages are a clan that is relatively new when compared to others, however, in the relative little time of their existence they managed to harness a great deal of influence and wealth, enough to be considered one of the most important clans of the modern days. The Savages are famous for their dominion and mastery of the Projection Magic, which allows materializing objects from their thoughts using magic energy. This mastery allows them to materialize all kinds of objects, or even weapons, according to their needs. The Savages are say to be one of the clans of mages who are the most inclined to direct combat, and they are said to be able to swiftly adapt to battle by using Projection to materialize all kinds of weapons that they can use in battle, turning them into amazing and versatile martial combatants. They are consider a very strong clan by the ones who met them, and their influence goes as high as to have some chairs in the Mage's Association.

Recently there was a certain event that affected the balance of the clan. The head of the clan, Archibald Savage, had decided that none of his own sons were worth of inheriting the Magic Crest, and so, he was keeping it to himself, even though his health was waning with time. Some even thought that the Magic Crest was going to die with him, until along came a mysterious bunny who Archibald took into his home and helped through a difficulty. This bunny turned out to be the one to whom he would pass his Magic Crest, right before he died, what was an outrage to his own sons, especially after that bunny decided to take on the clan name for himself.

Nowadays, Jack Savage, the bunny, is the possessor of the Savage Magic Crest, and he is the current head of the Savage clan, according to the traditions of the mages. However, other members of the Savage clan are not very receptive of him, especially the sons of Archibald Savage, who see him as an intruder who took away what was rightfully theirs. They don't like having Jack around, especially since Jack seems to be adding some more "diversity" to the clan with his own peculiar extended family…

**The Maskell –** This is one clan of great power and influence, all formed by raccoons and other relatives. This clan is famous for their great mastery of the art of Illusionism, and they are say to be able to wield it better than most of other mages of the world. The Maskell clan has their own agendas and their own business, and they are an example of another recent clan of mages who manages to achieve power and influence through their own mastery of their particular branch of magic and from the discipline and talent of their members. The Maskell are considered to be the best Illusionists in the world, and they are said to also be artists, using their illusions not only to fool others, but also to mesmerize the ones who watch it the same way that a singer would enchant others with their voices. It is said that the celebrations held by the Maskell are famous, for it is a chance to see the great illusory art that the clan is so famous for. The Maskell are one clan that imposes respect and also mistrust, not only for their species but also for the mastery of their art of illusions. There are all kinds of rumors that go around the world about how they are able to make themselves completely disappear and to manipulate the perceptions of the ones around them, making them the perfect spies and infiltrators, capable of robbing the secrets of other mages without ever taking the risk of being captured. However, they are still respected due to their great advances in the field of magic and in the field of Illusion, so much that the current head of the clan has a secure and very firm spot as an Archmage among the rankings of the Mage's Association. He is the kind of mammal that others will not mess with, despite the relatively small size that he has, for they know that is not wise to underestimate a master of Illusion.

The Maskell clan is also famous for the "friendly rivalry" that they share with the Wilde clan, besides these two families diverging from each other in all ways possible. Some say that this was born from an encounter of the founder of the clan with a member of the Wilde clan and some heated argument. What is know today is that the Maskell clan seems to hold the Wilde as rivals to be outsmarted, and most of the members of the clan will jump at the chance to try to best the Wildes if the chance presents itself. The Wildes, on their end, seem to see them as "an interesting entertainment" at best, and as "quite a nuisance" at worst, but they seem not to hold true grudges against them, or at least not consider them true threats.

**Di Tana –** This is one of the oldest, most powerful, and most influent clans of mages in the world, and they are the second most powerful that is a clan of bunnies, right behind the Höleh. The Di Tana are a traditional clan, being very keen on their traditions, and often behaving like gentleman in the modern world, being the kind that accepts the new values that are in the world at the same time that they try to preserve the old values, wanting to form something that holds the best of the two. "Change what needs to be changed, preserve what needs to be preserved", as they say. What makes the Di Tana famous is their mastery in the magecraft that revolves around the manipulation of time. The true manipulation of time is True Magic, something that vanished from the world after the end of the Age of Gods. The type of magecraft that the Di Tana developed is an attempt to imitate that art, and it is the result of centuries of research and dedication of the whole clan into imitating this lost power. They are still far from achieving things like time travel, if that is even possible (the Di Tana themselves claim that it is) but they have achieved significant advances in this, learning to manipulate time in a very limited scale, allowing them to control their own time and the time of their immediate vicinity, allowing them to do amazing things. Due to their advances in time magic, the Di Tana achieved a level of fame and respect in the mage community that very few families can actually rival, being easily placed among the twenty more powerful mage clans of the modern world.

The Di Tana have a rivalry with the Höleh clan, but this is surely no mere rivalry, but downright a revolt. The Di Tana are famous for their connections with the Church, and for being a righteous clan, so much that they consider the actions of necromancers as being revolting for many different reasons. The Di Lana have this enmity with the Höleh, they will try to get on the way of their plots and frustrate them at every chance that they get, and they will oppose them at any moment they met. The Höleh see them as annoying, and sometimes even a true problem, and they will answer accordingly.

**The Lupines –**  This is an old and powerful clan of wolves, famous for their capacity to dominate the lycanthropy. Lycanthropes are not irrational beasts, as most modern legends depict them, but rather an effect of magic that can either be impose or bestow, and the Lupine clan has learned to access this specific form of transformation and explore it to the max. The origins of the Lupine clan can be traced back several centuries, to a period that is very close to the end of the Age of Gods, and some even say that they are direct descendants of Lycaon, the first lycanthrope. Their main form of magecraft revolves around the use of lycanthropy and the manipulation of it. Each member of the clan learns to access a primitive part of their own nature and force their "inner beast" to come out, resulting into a transformation that makes them closer to the beasts and turn them into battle machines that have few matches in direct combat. They focus on lycanthropy, however, that is not their only branch of magic, and it is a common mistake to think that they can only transform themselves into beasts to fight and that they have no other tricks. Some consider them to be stupid and even savages, but the Lupines are far from this, as they have mastered their inner beasts, and now use them according to their needs, and they tend to surprise others with their amazing techniques and with a very clever use of magic. Most of their researches go into improving the use of their lycanthropy and achieving new landmarks in this are. Their old age and their considerable power grants them a position between the most influent and powerful mage clans of the modern times.

The Lupine clan has a great grudge against the Bellwether clan. This is the result of the Bellwethers having, in the past, kidnap and tortured members of the clan in order to try to understand the nature of their magecraft. This nearly started a war between these two clans, up until today, the subject itself is still very sensitive to the Lupines, and they truly,  _truly_ dislike the Bellwethers.

**Divine Spirits –** On the old times, there were the Gods. These entities were born from the purest True Ether, manifesting as clusters of magic energy that took form and will of their own based on aspects of the world and of everything that existed in it. After the appearing of mammals, their aspects started to be worship by these beings, the mortals who paid their respect and their tributes to these almighty forces of the world. The worship and adoration of the mortals increased the powers of the Gods, granting them to grow and to change, becoming entities of great power, capable of affecting the world in ways that mortals themselves could barely comprehend, all because of the adoration of the mammals. Gods were beings of almighty powers, which were able to control the world and to change it according to their needs, and they could even mate with mortals to create the beings called "demi-gods". However, even gods have their limitations, for while mortals had the natural instinct to adapt to their environment, the gods themselves merely existed, and were unable to adapt to things, and this was what lead them to be somewhat impotent to the deterioration of the Age of Gods. The process was slow, but it was effective, as the waning of magic made the gods start to lose their ability to influence the world, and as a result, the faith that the mammals had on them also started to wane. Of course, there are some divergences, once some say that it was actually the fact that the mammals were worshipping them less that led to the waning of their power and of their magic. Anyway, the fact was that, with time, the gods were worshipped less and less, and as a result, the magic that they once held started to decrease, as it was the adoration of mammals that granted them their power. As a result, with the end of the Age of Gods, the gods lost their almighty status. They continued to exist as manifestations of nature and of old aspects of the world, and as a result, they would continue to exist. However, they are no longer gods, but instead, they are Divine Spirits, the highest of all classes of spirits of nature. Not as powerful as they used to be in the distant past, but still powerful on their own right.

There are two classes of gods: the ones that were born as gods, manifestations of nature; and the ones who were born as mortals and who ascended after their deaths due to the adoration of people.

**Familiars –** Familiars are the kind of thing that mages will often use. They are special assistants created and employed by mages. Since many mages tend to live apart from society as they focus more on their research and on other personal matters, it is consider orthodox for mages to create and use familiars to run simple errands, like cleaning a place or bringing things to the mage. Familiars are different from the summoned creatures used by mages, like spirits, daemons or even elementals (in the case of the Wilde clan), for they are far more manageable, and they are often physical beings that are a symbol of the mage. There are many ways to create familiars, with the most traditional is the mage using some of his own thoughts and life force into the body of a dead animal, along with something of his own body that contains magic circuits (an eye, fur, blood, etc.) to imbue the body with life to make it move again. The result is a creature that has its own mind and soul and is able to perform a certain limited magecraft. Beings created this way might eventually develop their own mind, and they might even defy the mage (to a certain point), but they are manageable in the sense that they need constant influx of magical energy to stay alive, and this is made by a physical and spiritual connection that they share with the creator. There are reported cases in which the created familiars develop a mind that is somewhat the same as the mage, only staying behind in the field of magefcraft, due to the connection that they have with the mage at a mental level. There are other ways to create familiars, which includes infusing one's own magic circuits into a still living animal, and some favor this one for it creates familiars that are easier to control, once they already have a mind of their own and will follow it as they still have a connection with the mind of the mage. When we say "animals" we refer to lizards, birds, fishes, maybe even insects, once creating familiars from mammals is considered abhorrent, impractical, and a violation of the laws of the New Mage Codex, still some might actually do that for a reason or another…

It is also possible to use soulless beings as familiars, like golems.

**Golems –** Golems are artificial beings created through a variety of techniques. The golems differ from animunculi as these are created using alchemy to generate organic creatures, while golems are created through other methods. The very basis of the golem could be trace on the holy books through the creation of the first mammal from the soil of the earth. This is the basis of many magi to try to imitate the miracle of creation of mammals through material of the earth. The first manufacturers of golems can be trace back to the first centuries of the new Holy Era, and it is the base for all modern golems. Since the base was the recreation of the miracle of creation of mammals, it was traditional for most golems to match mammal form, trying to imitate the principle of that miracle. Each golem is treated as a fetus, "that which has no shape", while the goleomancy is treated as "the arcane craft of the Lord breathing life over the first mammal". Golems are something that is under the tradition of the Kabbalah, and the ones who create them usually seek for the art of creating golems to fulfill their needs, but they rarely go further than that, seeking to fulfill their own goals rather than replicating the miracle of the creation of Adam. However, the greatest and most orthodox of the Kabbalah arts consider the replication of that miracle as the ultimate art of the Kabbalah, and some even have it as their dearest wish, something that they do not take lightly. The more perfect is a golem under that specific ideal, the more it will become an independent existence, separated from its original design.

While these kabbalists seek to create golems of more quality as they come closer and closer to mammal form, most mages worry more into making stronger and more useful golems to fulfill their needs.

**Sealing Designation –** A sealing designation is consider something very serious among mages, both on its original purpose and for the meaning that they carry originally.

Originally, the sealing designations were emitted to mages who had skills that were deemed "unique" and not possessed by other mages, or that could not be passed down by teachings or even by bloodline, and so, they were subjects of the greatest interest to the rest of the mage community. The ones who received these designations were put on a state of mental and physical stasis, being in a kind of hibernation in which they would not age or die, and in which their flesh and blood would be preserved, and they would be studied by other mages in order to understand their special qualities. It was said to be a "greatest honor" among mages, for the mage was deemed "precious" enough to be preserved and protected forever, even though many who received it thought it to be outrageous, for it was basically going to lock them away forever, and it was almost akin to a death sentence.

Recently, with the advent of the New Mage Codex, the laws and traditions of mages started to change, as morality was ingrain in their behavior. One of the most shocking and polemic developments of this was that almost all of the previous sealing designations were annul, and the imprisoned mages freed. The responsible for this was the main mage behind the New Mage Codex, a wolf of the Mieczyslaw clan, and he didn't hesitates in justifying his reasons for this. He made it clear to everyone that it was not correct to strip mammals of their rights and to turn them into mere samples for studies, for by doing that, they stripped each other and themselves of their very nature as mammals, and became only monsters. Surprisingly, nearly all mage families agreed with them and from that point on, the sealing designations had a new sense. Today, the sealing designations are emitted only as a form of punishment, as arrest warrants for the most dangerous and wicked mages of the world. Since it is akin to a death sentence, only the mages who had done the worst things deserve to receive one. However, the world of mages is full of political plots, there are many stories and rumors about mages who arranged sealing designations for their rivals and enemies, in order to get them out of their way.

**Hermit –** This is a specific designation of the Mage's Association given to the ones who are deem as "subjects of interest". Hermits are individuals who have decided not to share their discovery with the Mage's Association, despite all the advantages that would come from this, and they prefer to keep their own discoveries and their advances to themselves, passing them only to the ones who they choose as their successors. Hermits often go far in order to be left alone, and their reasons for that, as well as for keeping their own advances to themselves, might vary greatly from one mage to another. The Mage's Association has interest in them due to their advances, however, they chose to leave them alone, for their actions do not represent danger. However, there are cases in which members of the Association can agree to send someone to apprehend Hermits if their discoveries are deemed to be truly extraordinary, enough for the mages to want it to be shared with the rest of the community in despite of the Hermit's wishes.

**Philosopher –** This is a designation that the Mage's Association gives to individuals who are deem "dangerous". Hermits tend to keep for themselves and not share their discoveries, but they are mostly harmless. Philosophers, however, are individuals who strive to make advancements, but they have long abandoned all codes of conduct and now act in continuation to their purposes and don't want to be bothered. Philosophers downright ignore most laws of the New Mage Codex, as they don't hesitate to attack, kill, kidnap, sacrifice and experiment on innocent civilians in order to make sure that they research will move forward. They have let go of all morals and ethics and now only care about achieving new developments in magic, no matter what cost may come. They may victimize a great number of innocents and, before the events of the Great Revealing, their actions could attract unwanted attention and even reveal the existence of magic to the world if they were not careful enough, not to mention that they don't hesitate to kill other mages if they deem them obstacles.

**Enforcers –** Enforcer is a title that is bestow to mages who were specially train to hunt down heretics that betrayed the ways of the Association and who do things that the other mages condemn. On old times, the duty of the Enforcers was chase and capture the ones who had sealing designations on their heads. Of course, since they rarely had these duties due to the rarity of appearing someone that was worth of these designations, they often spent their time hunting the heretics as a way of keeping themselves busy and sustaining themselves until the moment came. After the New Mage Codex, the Enforcers had a very slightly change in their behavior and in their duties. They are still warriors that are specialized in hunting and capturing other mages, however, now that the traditions have been changed, the enforcers now have a duty that is very akin to policies force, which includes hunting, capturing and even disciplining the mages who have broken the rules and became criminals. Their main work is still to hunt mages who received sealing designations, which now are mammals who have committed the worst crimes in the mage community; this makes them the official cops of the mage world and people who are both respected and feared.

**Freelancers –** Everywhere in the world that are people who sell their talents and their skills to who pays them, the famous mercenaries, and in the world of mages there is no exception to this rule. The mages who use their magic abilities to earn money by using it in service of others are often called "Freelancers", and they are often looked down upon by most traditional mages, for these think that the magecraft is a noble field of research instead of a mere tool for profit. The ones who are freelancers use their skills to earn a living, and unlike most mages, who earn money from their patents sold to the Clock Tower, freelancers freely use their skills in order to work for others and gain their own "sweaty money" from the works that they do. Among the freelancers that are several sub classifications, with some being "legal" while others are downright criminal. Among the kinds of freelancers that exist, there are the bounty hunters, who go after any mage who has a bounty over their heads because of any crimes they committed. There are the "magus killers" who are killers for rent that get jobs by killing other mages under the command of the ones who hired them. There are the bodyguards, who use their magical skill and combat proficiency to defend their contractors from threats that might come their way. These among many other of the mages who bear the title of freelancers.

**Psychic –** Among the mundanes, the word "psychic" immediately drives them to think of individuals who can read minds and see the past from the objects. However, in the magic world, this term is used to someone who was born with a mutation that allows the brain to comprehend a "channel" (common sense, or perception of reality) not common to mammals. It is consider a different type of Mystery from magecraft, although similar in nature.

The terms  **psychic power** , or  **extrasensory perception**  (ESP), are a wide term to encompass circuits that cause supernatural phenomena to occur, an interference with nature that comes as naturally as breathing. Unlike magecraft, which can be taught and practiced, psychic powers require inherent ability, they come from "mutations", and they are often limited to a single generation, being the kind of skill that cannot be taught, although some families found ways of ensuring that these qualities can be continued inside their own bloodlines. Generally, a psychic is born both with a normal perception of the world (the same that most mammals share) and with a psychic perception, which allows seeing and perceiving things that most other mammals can't.

However, there are cases in which the psychic is born only with the supernatural perception, or in which the natural perception degrades, to the point where they become less and less "mammals", and soon became unfit to live in society, some even going as far as becoming cold and heartless murderers. These individuals cannot live in society without the removal of their ESP, however, with the current knowledge and technology, doing that permanently is impossible without causing irreparable damage to the rest of the brain, instead, this kind of thing can only be "controlled", or "temporarily suppressed". Because of this, most of the mages have a strong mistrust towards those who are psychics.

There are all kinds of psychic powers. Clairvoyance and precognition are among them. However, the most known example are the  **Mystic Eyes** …

**Conceptual Weapons –** Conceptual Weapons are objects that, due to the past and their story, have accumulated spiritual weight upon themselves, to the point where they became something that surpass the limits of mere physical objects, and became something that now holds weight of a concept. They have become much more than more objects, as they are able to execute some "build-in concept", a predetermined phenomenon. These objects are in a scale superior to any Mystic Code, which are objects that were give power through magecraft, as the Conceptual Weapons are objects that gained certain concepts as part of their very nature, and so, they are considerably most powerful, many Noble Phantasms are Conceptual Weapons on their nature. There is a wide variety of concepts that can be possessed by these objects, which can include "the negation of immortality within the conception of natural life", "severing and binding", and "absolute defense against thrown weapons". Some of them have the power to force a concept into a target so much that it can completely crush a soul with the very concept itself. Formless creatures, such as spirits, and entities born from laws of the world or from delusions, like elementals and daemons, are impervious to physical interference, but they are susceptible to Conceptual Weapons, once they are concepts, and as so, they can only be kill by concepts.

Despite their name, the Conceptual Weapons can hold all kinds of forms. It is not uncommon for legendary objects and weapons to have turned into Conceptual Weapons as a result of their legends. The scabbard "Avalon", possessed originally by Leonidas Pendragon, falls into this.

Conceptual Weapons, when they are ancient and stuff of legends, are often described as "artifacts", "ancient relics", and "sacred relics". They are consider reminiscences of the Age of Gods, as they hold a power that very few aspects of modern thaumaturgy could hope to imitate.

**Mystic Eyes –** Mystic Eyes are a form of interfering with the world, resulting of a mutation of the magical circuits around one's eyes, resulting into a specific form of Mystery that manifests within one's gaze and that activated through activating the magic circuits of the area. This kind of mutation can be induce artificially by manipulating the magic circuits of that area, in a way that is similar to forging a Magic Crest. It is also possible for Mystic Eyes to appear naturally as a congenital mutation, being the kind of special ability that might place the possessor into a very special place of interest, these kinds of inborn Mystic Eyes are rare, but there are known cases in which these eyes are powerful enough to be able to interfere with fate itself. Mystic eyes are often the proof of a first-class mage, once they grant great power and are easy to conceal.

It is possible to suppress Mystic Eyes with the use of a special magical construct called " **mystic eyes killer** ", which usually have the form of a blindfold or of a pair of glasses. These serve to block specific kinds of Mystic Eyes that cannot be turn off, allowing the user to be able to live a rather normal life.

**Bounded Field –**  A bounded field is a type of topographic magecraft, a spell that deals with space and serves to create a delimited space through magic energy, spreading it through an area to create a mystic boundary that separates the outside and the inside. Once constructed, the line of the boundary delimits the range of the powers of the field, however, it is possible to increase this boundary by adding sigils to the field, to expand and strengthen it. It is possible to destroy these sigils in order to hinder or weaken to bounded field, but the creator can easily fix it by adding more mana to it. In addition, new sigils are construct by the actions of old ones, in a way that the bounded field can repair itself overtime. The original purpose of bounded fields is to create safe havens, as they serve to keep invaders outside and even to warn the caster from invasions, in which case, they serve to the protection of the mage and of the area that belongs to him. Offensive versions also exist, and they often work by messing with magical energy to cause interference with the magic of the attackers. The more advanced of bounded fields work in on a subconscious level to prevent the onlookers form even noticing that it is there, but the chances of being noticed by trained mages increases if the field is used upon a large area. An ideal bounded field is one that cannot be detect by anyone, being considered the best kind, for they protect without raising any suspicious of their existence. On the other end of the spectrum, a bounded field that can be detect easily is consider a sloppy, third-grade work.

**Reality Marble –** A reality marble of something that is akin to a bounded field, but on a level that it borders on the realm of True Magic. A reality marble is the ability that allows one to materialize their own inner world into the outside by suppressing the World and replacing it by their own inner reality. This allows exchange the sizes of oneself and of the World, making them World be reduced and sealed away in that specific location while the inner world of the user is enlarged to encompass the whole area. This way, the user is able to project their own internal landscapes. Each one of these worlds has its own sets of rules and patterns, which reflect the mind and soul of the one who created them, in a way that it allows the user to achieve things that would otherwise be impossible, like creating a world where they can control everything around them. Normally this ability is possess by beings like elementals, spirits of nature, and other entities of awesome power, who are born from the world and therefore are able to affect it. However, this can also be achieved by entities not properly born form the World, like Dead Apostles and, sometimes, the most powerful of mages, but in these cases, the World constantly tries to crush the Reality Marbles created by them, so maintaining them costs an absurd amount of mana, and cannot be made indefinitely. Among mages, the ability to generate a Reality Marble is something truly exceptional, and is consider a forbidden type of magecraft that will surely attract a lot of attention, once everyone considers this as the closest thing that one could possibly achieve of True Magic, and is not something that every mage can do through research. Practitioners of the art might also be able to summon only partial aspects of their Reality Marbles, what is practical and does not activates the corrective impulses of the World. These things can involve someone inside the range, removing them from the world and into the inner world that is create, and the Marble itself cannot be notice from the outside. People who are near it can sense the presence similar to a bounded field, but are unable to determine its precise location, once the space itself changes to demark the limits of the Marble. Still, the boundaries of the field can be damage by extreme pressure of magical energy, both from the inside and the outside, but only a great amount of magical energy, akin to the deployment of a Noble Phantasm, can actually do something of the like, causing the Reality Marble to start collapsing faster.

**Chants/Incantations –**  Chants and incantations, also referred to as  **Aria** , are a part of the thaumaturgycal process, an important part of the use of magecraft that mages of the modern day use. They are part of a procedure that allows the activation of magecraft, applied by many types of spellcasters. When you use thaumaturgy of high-scale, it is necessary to go through a process, and the chants are part of this process. However, in the case of more personal magecraft, the chants are more of a self-hypnosis, a way to access and activate the Magic Circuits.

Spells have abilities that are predetermined, so no matter who uses them, they will have the same effect; however, the chants used in a spell can vary from one person to another. That is because those incantations are not something that is use towards the outside world, but for the mage's own inner world, a way of activating one's magic circuits by words. An action that activates the process on one's own body and, many times, reflects one's own nature. As long as the incantations has a specific meaning and a set of keywords are set, the particulars of the incantation can be adapted to the mage's tastes. The greater the meanings of an incantation for the caster, the better the final effect will be, for the better the self-hypnosis will be for the mage to achieve the desired effect. In the end, even the words of the incantation do not mean much, the meaning behind them is the most important.

Of course, there are the incantations that are chant towards the outer world. These are call  _Grand Incantations_ , and they are relate to Greater Rituals. These incantations are so complex and powerful that is impossible to chant them alone, a group being necessary to do so, with certain notable exceptions, like Reality Marbles.

Spells are classified according to the length of their incantations:

·  ** _Single-Action:_**  Instantaneous spells. Can be activate only through passing magic energy through the magic circuits.

·  ** _One-Line:_**  Spells that are activate through one single phrase with one word at the very least. A system very well stablished and easy to use.

·  ** _Five-Lines:_**  Spells with incantations made up of five lines.

·  ** _Ten-Lines:_**  Instantaneous contract. Already considered a simple ritual. The minimum step necessary to activate High-Thaumaturgy (spells of power ranked A or above). Consists of ten phrases or more. A fully trained mage can perform them in about one minute, but of course, very skilled mages might be able to chant these incantations in half of the time.

**The Clock Tower –** The Clock Tower is a very special location, which is currently the headquarters of the Mage's Association. Its precise location is in the city of Liondon, more precisely, in the great British Museum. Officially, the place is just an old place that is open for the mundane population, however, somewhere in the very bottom of it, there is a place known as "the bridge", and which allows the ones who cross it to be able to access a place that is there and not there at the same time. This kind of thing is possible because the building stands over a very special place, the corpse of a mountain-sized dragon that failed to depart to the Reverse Side of the World. That dragon dug a lot by trying to find the path to the Reverse Side before dying, and in this digging, the dragon ended up creating a series of tunnels. These do not properly lead to the Reverse Side, which led to other places, which are not present either in the normal world or in the Reverse Side, but actually exist "in the space between both sides".

These tunnels lead to an overlapping world with our own, and in this world the true Clock Tower rests, a place where the association forms their headquarters and where they meet for the most important decisions. This is a place filled with buildings that contain several things, of the size of a small town, this place serves as house and a study place for many mages of the Association where they can work without fearing being bothered by intruders and where they can teach in peace.

Normally the teaching of magic is done inside the very clan, from mentor to student, as so the secrets are preserved. However, it is not uncommon for mage families to want to widen the horizons of their young, so the Clock Tower also works as a "school" where the young mages are sent, or com on their own, to have the chance to learn with the members of the Association who double as teachers in there. This is done mostly so to open space for future members of the Association and to widen the views of the mages who come in there, so they can "become all that they can be". Since the Clock Tower is mostly elitist, ii sot uncommon for one to see prejudice and favoritism in there, with the ones who are from great lineages or extremely gifted to receive special treatment in there. Also, since most of the students come from noble mage families, it is not uncommon for them to start their political dances yet in there, as they forge alliances and make enemies according to their own ideas and machinations, or the ones of their families. However, the Clock Tower is also fill with individuals who strive to make it different, as they often invite young talented mages from non-noble origins to come and study in there, and some of the teachers often encourage students to not get too caught up in their families' schemes…

**The Technocracy –**  The Technocracy is a group that is divide from the Mages' Association and from the Clock Tower, and that have their own approach on the Thaumaturgy Theory and its applications. While the regular users of thaumaturgy claim without any hesitation to be mages, the members of the Technocracy see themselves as scientists, so much that they refer to their thaumaturgy mostly as "enlightened science", and will never refer to it as "sorcery" or "magic". They believe these terms to be born from misunderstanding of the people and not to rightly refer to all that these fields of study do. They see thaumaturgy as a form of science in its purest form, and they work in developing it not only for their personal purposes or for personal growing, as do most mages, but also for this science will grow and eventually lead to great advancements for the whole world. Another thing they are famous for is for being "defenders of mammals" using their enlightened science to fend off any supernatural evils that threaten mammals, in particular other mages. They are quite unpopular among many mages, mainly because they are a group that defends that the existence of the "magical science" should be revealed to the world and shared with everyone in order to improve the world, for that so is the purpose of science.

They have always had their own spheres of influence, having started as an order of illuminated beings who wanted to "spread reason among ignorance", and use their art to "bring the world to a new age". They often are competing with the Mage's Association for power and influence, and they often have similar practices, like the one of recruiting young mages to their ranks in order to teach them.

After the time of the Great Revealing, and the Interview of the Millennia, the Technocracy was the first one to step up and present itself, before even the Mage's Association, and they exposed themselves as researchers of the "enlightened science", and they offered their discoveries and advances in order to improve life and help the public. This put them in a very good life with the public, and the Mage's Association still considers that they made a very good move. They openly present themselves to the world, they act through the industries and enterprises that are relate to them, like Pearl Paragons, and Prime Industries.

**The Orphans –**  The Orphans are an unofficial association that is separate from both the Mages' Association and from the Technocracy, and they are called this way because that's what they are: orphans. This group is entirely composed of mages that lack a true place to belong or clan, either because they rejected them or were rejected. Either for their own option, or for the decision of the clan, these mages were cast out, and now they don't belong anywhere, and so, these "outcasts" started to come together, in order to grow and to support each other on the best of their abilities. The Orphans have a clearly rebellious way of acting, and this makes many of the mage community to see them as nothing but troublemakers. They are considered "lost and sad children" at best and as "delinquents" at worst, and may dismiss them as simply an urban group that lacks organization or even purpose. However, few realize just how strong the Orphans truly are, having been fund on the 1800's, and being the kind of organization that has been growing in numbers and in resources. Their main goal is to prove their worth to the world, so to prove that mages don't have to follow the paradigms of the mage society, and that only because they lack a clan doesn't means that they are lost and useless. Their main goal is to create a new reality where the old values of conservative mage families are finally abandon and the society offers more freedom and more rights to the mages who want to follow their own path.

After the events of the Great Revealing and the Interview of the Millennia, they have been greatly active in several aspects, including searching and recruiting new members for their ranks. Some think this behavior is suspicious…


	3. Chapter 3

**The Tigereyes:**  Among the world of mages, it is a common knowledge that the correct breeding can ensure that the Magic Circuits of the offspring will be superior to the ones of the progenitors, granting that the clan will become stronger with each generation. Due to this, many clans still focus on making the future generations stronger through the correct breeding, and a good number of them still takes this very seriously. With years of breeding, it is a real risk that at some point the clan will have to recur to inbreeding, what would be disadvantageous and, to some, even revolting. To avoid such thing, there are clans of mages who are kept around with the purpose of serving as breeding source, to add new blood to mage clans and to avoid the need for inbreeding when there are little other viable options. Among these clans, a famous one is the Tigereye clan, a clan of tigers who serves as a breeding source for certain tiger clans, and they are said to be a very good breeding material when they are needed. This clan has its own activities, but they are more known for being very good breeding partners, and for being able to produce an offspring of very good quality, Magic Circuit wise. This has been practically ever since their foundation, and is something that has lasted up until the modern days, being the kind of tradition that some say will continue to exist for a long time…

This clan is also famous for not being a traditional clan of mages, as they often pursue jobs in the mundane world and fraternize with the mundanes, sometimes even more than with other mages. One famous example of this is of four brothers of the Tigereye clan, all litter mates, who have gotten themselves a work as jobs/bodyguards of the worldwide famous singer and compositor Gazelle… Some other mage families consider them to be a disgrace to the names of mages, even though they are still considered very viable as breeding material by the clans who need…

Due to their lack of activity in the politics of mages and due to their own way of acting, they are not powerful or influent in regards to the rest of the mage community, and are considered something akin to sperm donors and nothing more, having little social relations with other mage families. However, they have developed a very strong friendship with the Clawhauser clan, who seems to share many of their philosophies and their ways of seeing the world, and seem to overall enjoy their company very much.

**The Kitsuneo Clan:**  The Kitsuneo are a clan for Nippon, the land of the setting sun, and they are famous as a noble and strong clan of foxes in there. Foxes have a bad reputation in many cultures, and the culture of Nippon is one of these, with foxes often being consider sly tricksters that use of subterfuge and treachery to get what they want. However, even with this stereotype, the Kitsuneo clan was able to make their name and to earn themselves the respect of others as a powerful family of mages. The lands of the east are considered something separated from the east, both in their thaumaturgycal traditions and for their political and cultural elements, to the point where few natives of the orient are members of the Mage's Association, and the countries of Asia many times have their own Associations that deal with things on their own way. Nippon is one of these lands, it is very hard for the Association to work in that place, but things are kept in order by the work of the most important and influent families of mages of this land. The Kitsuneo are among the most important and powerful, to the point where it would not be farfetched to say that they practically run the mage world of Nippon. Part of their thaumaturgycal tradition revolves around illusion magic, but some members of the clan have disfavored this kind of tactic as it perpetuates a stereotype about their kind, and instead, they prefer to focus on the main power of their clan, the use of the supernatural  ** _kitsunebi_** , the legendary "fox's fire". They are renowned for their mastery of this, as well as their great cunning and of their righteousness when dealing with the affairs of the regions that are under their protection/command.

After the events of the Great Revealing, the Kitsuneo were among the clans who made their presence known, even though it was not necessarily by their own will. Another clan was bringing trouble into their lands, the Kitsuneo had to be more active in taking care of the problem, and this direct course of action has led to people soon figuring out that they were there, and soon, the fame that they already had in the world of mages started to spread among mundanes…

**The Kudura Clan:**  The Kudura clan is an example of a clan who can lose their prestige and power in the world of mages. The Kudura are a clan that is famous for great advancements and for the great power and skill of their members and for the amazing things that they have done. This clan of greater kudus and other related antelopes demonstrate a great deal of success in their own thaumaturgycal theory, which consists into a developed form based on the thaumaturgycal theory of numerology, a school of magecraft that affects the reality through works of great precision and information, in a way similar to mathematics. The thaumaturgycal theory that was develope by the clan is based on numerology, and it is something that deals with the knowledge of space and with the correct interpretation and influence of the many factors of the world, both physical and spiritual, in a way that the very precise formula induces to a near infallible and predicted result that is the outcome of the process utilize. Their specific form of numerology is one that some say is actually closer to geometry, once it deals with very precise ideograms and formulas in their research, and the result is that the idea of the geometry was deeply associated with this style of numerology, and it ended up being call by others as "geometricism". It is a branch of the original numerology that is greatly unknown in the mundane world and which secrets are deeply protected by the Kudura clan so they do not fall in the paws of the wrong mammals.

In the recent history (less than one century ago) the clan passed by an event in which their reputation as mages and as a clan was threatened, but not by something immediate and tangible, but by a prophecy. In the world of mages, prophecies are something quite rare, but the ones who are widely accepted by mages do have a great power. This prophecy in particular predicted the downfall of the Kudura clan, saying that the clan would lose its power and that the members of the clan would lose themselves as their magecraft would fall into oblivion. True or not, this prophecy had a great influence into the future of the Kudura clan, for none of the aristocratic families of mages (or nearly none) wanted to get into alliances with a clan that was destined to fall and take the risk of falling along with them. As the result of this, the Kudura clan lost most of their allies, and their reputation was taint as everyone was practically counting the days until it came the time for their prophesized downfall. Still, the clan still maintains enough influence and power to be able to act in the world of mages to a certain extent, and they still have allies worldwide, even though the power and influence that they have now is a mere shadow of what it was in the recent past. Nowadays, the efforts and dedication of the clan are all focus into achieving a way of avoiding the prophecy and restoring the prestige and power of the clan. The problem is: the prophecy was never clear on how this downfall was exactly going to happen, that is why the clan is desperate into using their resources to find a way to thwart fate and to restore the power of the clan, and as time goes by, they are getting more and more frantic and desperate in their search for a solution…

**The Villalobos:**  The Villalobos are a famous clan of wolves whose origins are trace back to Roarope, and which built for themselves a great fame for acting as adjudicators in the conflicts of other mages. The stories say that they started out as a clan of wolves who were tired of other families of mages making war into their lands, and so, they started to act as mediators between these conflicts, and they showed a great deal of success in these actions and in doing their job. Soon, their fame started to spread, and they gained a wide fame as mages who helped other mages settle their differences and problems in a diplomatic way. The lands that they controlled became a neutral ground where mages could meet each other without fighting and where they could settle their differences in peace, underneath the watchful eyes of the Villalobos. This kind of reputation helped them grow as they became quite important in the politics of mages all across Roarope, and this helped them grow in all senses of the word. Soon, the Villalobos had attained to themselves positions of prestige and power, and they have achieved all of that thanks to their hard work to be adjudicators of mages and to help them settle their differences and uphold the principles of the laws of mages.

Today, the Villalobos are among the most powerful and influent mage families of the modern times, and they are very wealthy. Publically, the Villalobos are famous for having numerous establishments like clubs and hotels all around the world. These places are the terrain of the Villalobos, places protected by bounded fields and where mages who come have to keep peace or face consequences. They are neutral grounds in which the Villalobos continue to exercise their work as adjudicators, and these places are sponsor by the Mage's Association, which still holds the work of the Villalobos in high regard for having avoid many terrible wars and tragedies in the past.

The Villalobos have a good relationship with the Mieczyslaw, for they help uphold the laws that the other clan created, and they are often making very good interactions and even working together to keep order, each one in their own way…

**The Von Wüldervolls:**  The Wüldervoll clan is native from Europe, and they are a strong clan of lynxes that made themselves specialized in jewel magecraft. They became masters in the art of infusing magic into ancient precious gems, granting that these gems will become Mystic Codes of great power, and that they can be use in battle to match other mages. The clan holds great pride in their work with the jewels, and they are say to fabricate the most beautiful Mystic Codes of the world out of precious gems. They are an "old style" family of mages, being attach to traditions, including the one that mages consider all forms of modern technology to be inferior to their magical versions of it, so much that they vehemently refuse to learn about technology, and they look down on any mage who does.

They are an old bloodline, with great riches and with political power. However, even though they are still one of the most influent mage families of the world, in the list of the twenty more powerful and influent mage families of the modern times, they are list in last place. The clan wishes to grow and to perfect their ways and their position, and to achieve a greater level of influence in the world of mages. This has led the clan to make several political dances and many efforts into advancing in their field of magecraft, all so they can get themselves even more power and surpass the other families of mages to secure a position of prestige and power for the future. Some say that, in what comes to political games and the continuous focus on the advancement of the clan, the Wündervoll are the perfect example of a traditional and "old money" family of mages.

This clan has a very strong enmity with the Wilde clan due to events that happened a couple centuries ago, when both clans clashed directly over a battle for territory and for certain magical resources. The battle was silent, but was bloody, and in the end, the Wilde clan emerged with a magnificent victory, while the Von Wüldervoll clan was force to retreat to some corner in order to lick their wounds. The Wildes acquired power over the land and they even claimed to themselves a treasure that belonged to the clan of lynxes, making it one of their own acquisitions. The Von Wüldevolls still hold a grudge against every single living Wilde ever since that day, and wait for the chance of getting back at them…

**The Wolfgangs:**  The clan of Wolfgang is a clan of wolves known for their rich tradition and for having produced many skillful musicians. However, more than just artists, they are a clan of mages specialized in music magecraft, a thaumaturgycal tradition that uses sound and music in place of arias as a way of achieving mysteries, turning them able to realize powerful feats of magecraft with nothing more than an instrument and, sometimes, their own voices. Their skill in this branch of magic, and also the fact that they are an old and very influent clan makes them be listed in a place of respect among other clans. They are particularly famous among their own homelands in Europe, and some of them achieve a great deal of respect, both for their musical arts as for their musical magecraft.

They have always been famous on both mage and mundane worlds. Since their nature as mages came to surface in recent times, these fames started to merge. The fact that they were famous as musicians and that they are users of a magecraft that bases itself in a form of art worked wonders to make them have a widely good reception from mundanes, unlike other mage families.

They are also famous for their attachment for traditions, to the point that until today the members of the clan refuse to use or learn about technology unless it is absolutely necessary, and they value classic forms of music above modern music. In fact, very recently a member of the clan was kicked out and sunned away for having developed certain "tastes" that different from the traditions of the clan…

**Magic Circuit Suppressors:**  In the world of mages, it is hard to be sure that a mage will not do anything against others with their magecraft. There were need to be create ways to prevent mages from using magecraft against others and to defy the current laws, which became far more urgent with the advent of the New Mage Codex. As a result, there was the need to develop specific precautions that would prevent mages from using their magecraft, and so, there were develop many special systems and Mystic Codes that had the precise purpose of avoiding this.

These kinds of systems work by affecting the Magic Circuits, suppressing them so it will not be possible to activate them, turning impossible to pass magical energy through them, what prevents the use of magecraft. These kinds of rituals and devices have existed for a while, mostly as a way of preventing imprisoned mages of using their abilities against their captors, however, with the advent of the new Mage Codex, these things became quite popular as a law-enforcing element. They serve for the Enforcers to imprison and subjugate criminal mages while they are transport and held imprison.

The most known and the most popular kind of suppressors are the special runic devices created by the Mieczyslaw clan. They take them form of collars, wristbands, or even harnesses that have special runes inscribed in them and that go in the body of the mage. Once in place, the magic of the runes works on suppressing the Magic Circuits of the mage to prevent the activation of magecraft. They are a basic material for the Enforcers to use, and they are made of special material that makes them very hard to break. Once in place, they lock and can only be remove by someone who has the right spell, and attempts to remove them by force often end in failure due to the magic of the runes in them. These materials are an element of disciplinary action, and they are place as a mean of punishment when the mage who is being apprehend tries to resist being take into custody. They are also use as disciplinary elements in and on themselves, as they are place on an offending mage and left in there for a period that varies in accordance with the size of the infraction. Sometimes they remain in place for a few weeks, other times the mages have to wear them for a few years. It is somehow like a conditional parole or a minor punishment, once the mage is allow to roam free, but deprived of his magecraft abilities, what can cause many problems to a mage, not to mention the stigma of having to wear one of those, what pretty much marks you as a criminal. These devices also are made with a special detection spell imbue in their runes, so the Enforcers will be able to track down the ones wearing them wherever they go, pretty much like the electronic anklets that mundane criminals wear.

Suppressors might also come into the form of Bounded Fields. In these cases, it is possible to create a field around a certain area that suppresses the Magic Circuits of the ones inside of the area, rendering this a "no magecraft zone". Normally, this kind of bounded field affects everyone inside it, but with the right preparation, it is possible to make it affect only certain individuals, or not to affect certain specific individuals. Nowadays, this is very popular in the places that mages do their "prisons" for the more serious criminals of their world. These places where they are incarcerated are surrounded with Bounded Fields that have a double function of protecting the place from invasions and spying, and of preventing the inmates in the inside of using magecraft to try and escape. In these places, there is also a special preparation so the special agents who work as guards in there are not affect by the field, retaining their capacity to access magecraft at will.

In the case of powerful mages, the suppression effect can only work passively, only suppressing the Magic Circuits enough to dampen magical abilities. Some are supposed to work that way, rendering the mages weaker in place of taking their magecraft, while others end up having this effect because the suppressors are not strong enough to suppress completely the circuits of very powerful mages.

**Rough Diamonds:**  The Magic Circuits are what defines one as a mage for giving them the capacity to conduct magical energy and utilize it to realize the desired effects. Magic Circuits are something that is passed down bloodlines, and overtime, with the careful cultivation and breeding, each generation can have better Magic Circuits than the last, resulting in increasing of power. The opposite is also true, as for one reason or another; the quality of the Magic Circuits of a bloodline can dwindle with time, resulting in loss of powers. However, there are some cases in which a mammal from a bloodline who has not have mages for a long time, or never at all, can develop Magical Circuits that serve for magecraft. These are events in which a mage is effectively born from mother and father non-mages, and with the only mages (if any) are a very distant ancestor. These individuals are vulgarly know in the mage community as " **rough diamonds** ".

It is perfectly possible that someone who come from a bloodline that holds none, or almost none, relationship with any mage, to be able to produce spontaneously a mage. When something like this happens, normally is due to a sudden mutation in the bloodline or even in the individuals themselves that allows them to be born with magical circuits. In these cases, these individuals will be track by the Mage's Association and be place under observation. In most cases, the Association would normally track these individuals, help them awaken their Magic Circuits, and move them away from the mundane society and try to introduce them to the society of mages. Of course, this is not always possible, as there are many stories about individual who had dormant Magic Circuits with them and spent their whole lives without ever awakening them, something that, according to some, resulted in the loss of many potential mage bloodlines.

After the events of the Great Revealing, rough diamonds continued to appear in the world and to be discover, even though the method of approaching them is starting to change significantly, as now the Association no longer needs to have so much care with covering their tracks and activities. With the exception of keeping the identity of these and their relatives in secret, to avoid future persecutions. Still, the approach did not changed so much, as they need to locate the new mage, contact them very discreetly, and discuss with them and their families (especially in the cases where the new mage is still young) of the implications of what the child has discovered to be. These including the responsibilities and dangers of the misusage of the Magic Circuits, and the introduction of the new mage to the learnings of magecraft. In the time following the Darkest Hour and the subsequent events of the Great Revealing, some mages who paid attention could observe a small, but meaningful increasing of the number of brute diamonds appearing across the world. Any reasonable mind can easily assume that this is due to the change in behavior of the Mage's Association, which now focus more in doing their job without the constant distraction of having to cover up their activities and keep secrecy. After all, it is not possible that these events have somehow "induced" the appearance of many new mages from previously non-mages bloodlines…

**Magic Circuit Combustion:**  Magic Circuits are like a nervous system and like circuits form machines, which transport magical energy to allow magecraft to happen. When they are being use, they heat up, and depending on how much magical energy is used, the magic circuits can start to heat up to a point where they provoke numbness in the mage, or even pain. If overloaded, they might even cause burns on their vicinities, or even burn themselves, resulting in loss of their capacity and in the mage losing power.

However, there are some cases, rare, but well known, in which the Magic Circuits were force to a point in which they ended up entering in combustion. These events happen when they are force with so much magical energy that the heat in them causes the circuits to set themselves in fire, and the result is a combustion that starts from the magic circuits. It is not a combustion with normal fire, but with a fire of supernatural origins, so hot and intense that even water, freezing temperatures, or complete lack of oxygen are able to set it out. This fire spreads from the magic circuits into the fat, the flesh and even the bones of the mage, resulting into what mundanes often describe as "spontaneous mammal combustion", something that is considered either an urban legend or a supernatural event by them. Among mages, this is famous as the result of a mage who forced too much their Magic circuits, who tried to go far beyond their own limits, who tried to grasp too much too quickly. They are regard as examples of what can happen if one is not careful enough when using magecraft.

Of course, these stories are terrifying, but they are not limited to erupting in flames. There are some cases, even rarer, in which forcing the Magic Circuits can result not only on the circuits combusting, but on completely bursting, resulting in the body of the mage to literally explode. There are some examples of it, some of mages who exploded, and some mages who lost limbs and body parts due to the Magic Circuits of a specific part of their body having reacted violently to the excess of magical energy.

These events are a fact well known to mages, and even though it is rare to meet someone who had truly witnessed these events, it is of common knowledge in the mage world that they can happen. They are often share and told to the young mages so they will know that there are limits even for mages, and if you try to break these limits, there are risks and consequences, and that you may very well pay with your life. Still, these events only occur in the most extreme of cases, when the Magic Circuits are force to handle an enormous amount of magic energy at once, or when they are use for far too much time. Also, before they become hot enough to combust or explode, they tend to get so hot that they actually cause burns in the flesh.

**Wizard Marshal:**  The position of wizard marshal is one that is taken seriously within the Mage's Association, and is one of distinguish prestige and of great responsibility. The Association have their own police force, the Enforcers, and they work in upholding their laws and keeping order in name of the Association. However, even among them, there is a certain level that is consider above the Enforcers, and these individuals work not only as law enforcement, but also as the military force of the Association. Among these mammals, there are the ones who become the military leaders, holders of military knowledge and authority within the Association. These individuals reached these positions through their efforts and years of merits and probations, and they are each one leader of their own squad, formed by a great number of elite mages specialized in combat and hardened by many missions. These individuals hold great authority and respect within the association, and they also have a great deal of responsibilities, like being the first line of defense when dangers threaten the Association, they have seen more than their fair share of dangers and battles before they reached their current state. There are very few who acquired the title of wizard marshal, and the ones who did are famous in and out of the Association, and sometimes even worldwide.

**Ley Lines:**  A ley line is something that exists in the world, and that is of great significance for some mages and for some bloodlines, as it represents a way of increasing their powers and reaching new heights. Ley lines are much like the Magic Circuits possessed by the mages, being lines on the planet through which the Mana, the magical energy of the World itself, flows and gathers into the world. These lines are very special, for in them, the flow of mana is particularly strong, and making them a source of power for mages who use them, for merely standing above one tends to increase your capacity. In addition, mages who are skilled enough are even able to extract magical energy from the ley lines, and use them to power up spells that they alone wouldn't be able to make. However, this must be done with care, for if a ley line is drained of too much, or even all, of its current mana, it will dry and might take a few years to refuel completely.

Ley lines are places with a certain Mystery on their own right, so they tend to attract things to them. Among mundanes, ley lines were recognize as lines that were form by places of religious or historic importance, where sights were constructed. That happens because the ley lines have the effect of attracting success and prosperity for the buildings that are upon them, resulting in important places in them prospering in the years, and this led mammals to associate the locations of these sights with the specific lines, even though they didn't understood them completely. It is true that places that are built upon ley lines much times are fated to prosper and to have a great history behind them, for instance, the Great Palm Hotel, a place of great success in the city of Zootopia, was built exactly into the intersection of two different and very strong ley lines. This is consider to have helped significantly into the success of the building…

**Spiritual Land:**  Mystical lands are something that are intimately related to the ley lines, being spaces of land, mystic grounds were one can find powerful ley lines, and in which the mystery is very strong. Being in one of these lands can significantly increase one's own capacity into magecraft and, if the land is charge enough with power, sometimes it can even be possible to reach a level of power where it can almost match the capacities of True Magic. Most of the know spiritual lands have been claimed and acquired by the Mage's Association, being under their protection and being places of interest. However, there are some Spiritual Lands under the control of certain families or other organizations, and these are explore and treasure as something significant to them, being the kind of thing that can give them great advantages and help greatly in their advancement by allowing them to break certain boundaries.

There are some examples of spiritual lands, like important Holy Cities, and places that are near or into major ley lines. One clear example of this is the Great Palms Hotel, which was build over the intersection of two major ley lines, and as a result, is a place where a lot of magical energy resides. The only reason why this place was never fully explore by the mages was because it was a mundane site, and they were still worrying in keeping their operations a secret…

Another Spiritual land of the major significance the great mass of magic circuits within the land that served as the source of power for the ritual known as "Holy Grail War". This is a spiritual land of the greatest power, actually, the most powerful one that is known, and the Mage's Association would have immediately claimed it if it wasn't for the intervention of the  **Wilde** ,  **Höleh**  and  **Bellwether** clans, who joined their influence to make the place as a shared property from all of them. With their combined efforts, they could claim that land as belonging solely to the three clans, and so, the Mage's Association was with their hands tied, as they could not act on it without breaking their own laws, and possibly starting a war with three of the most powerful clans of the whole world. The extreme power of that land, and the huge amount of power that they could take from it, to the point of rivaling the True Magic of the Age of Gods, was the only thing that made the ritual possible. Without it, the summoning of the power of the Holy Grail and the materialization of the souls of Heroic Spirits (something on the level of True Magic) would have not been possible at all.

**Second Owner:**  Spiritual Lands are sites of great importance for the ones who possess them, and they are desire and envied by other mages who want to take advantage of their existence to help on their own causes. It makes sense that these places are protected constantly and with strength by the ones who control them, and that the Mage's Association would do their best to protect the many lands that are under their possession, so other mages would not try to take advantage of them. However, the existence of multiple spiritual lands under their protection makes it difficult for all of them to be monitor and to be protected at the same time, so the Association makes use of a system that passes part of the responsibility forward. They select a lineage of mages of their trust, who are strong and competent and give to them the partial ownership of the land, in exchange for them to defend it, and all of the surrounding area and report in the case of any need, acting in the best interest of the Association. The current head of the clan is the one of the greatest responsibility for the land, and they receive the title of  **second owner** , even though they get to be best know by the mages as the " **supervisor** " of the land. The supervisor is, in many ways, a great authority of the land, sponsored directly by the Mage's Association, who gets to decide all things related to that land and to any mage who gets into or near it. As a result, any mage who comes into the Spiritual Land under their protection and decides to take residence in there must get their permission to build their  **workshop** , and the supervisor has a great deal of power and authority in the land, so long as they respect the regulations and remain loyal to the association.

There are reported cases in which some mages might be able to pass by perception of the supervisor and to remain within the land and take advantage of its properties without raising suspicions. If something like that happens too many times it is taken as a sign that the ones who are exercising the job are not responsible enough, and the Association might react by removing their title and privileges, and passing it to another clan.

**Workshop:**  A workshop is something that is very important in the mage culture, it is a place where a mage will do research experiments, and overall works of magecraft that could hardly be done in any other place. A workshop is a "magical laboratory" where mage sets of a place for research and experimentation focused on development of magecraft, being the kind of thing that is very important to a mage. This is the kind of place that will be essential to any mage who is truly worth the name, and as so, a lot of time and effort will be used in the construction of the place itself, so it can comport all of the needs and goals of a mage in what it comes to their own research. The procedures in the construction of a workshop can vary greatly from one mage to another, but the most important of them surely is the right means to contain the place to, be sure that the magic energy from the inside will not leak it. This kind of procedure is important because, due to the many experiments that happen in there, a workshop is bound to have a greater level of magical energy in it, so much that even mundanes who walk into it can actually feel that, feeling that the air is "heavier" and that is "fizzles with some kind of static". A workshop is one of the most important things for a mage, for it is the place where they make discoveries and advancements, so it is the kind of place that is nearly sacred to most mages, once it is the place of their secrets, and an invasion to it could mean someone trying to steal or destroy their research and their advancements. The step into the workshop of a mage without the mage's authorization will be seen as an act of open hostility, and it will often be answered accordingly.

**Elements:**  The elements are nothing more and nothing less than the elements that form the world, and they are something that plays an important role in magecraft. There are different classes of elements, depending on the teachings and on the thaumaturgycal traditions that are follow. For instance, in the occident, there is the tradition of the four classic elements (water, fire, wind and earth), something traced back to the classic times in Greece, with the adding of one final extra element: void/ether. There is also the tradition of the five elements in the orient: earth, water, fire, wood and metal. Also, there is the tradition that accepts "twelve constellations".

Each element has specific qualities and is associated with specific thaumaturgycal effects and concepts, depending on which thaumaturgycal theory you are studying them. for instance, in the occidental traditions of magecraft:

·  **Fire:**  Spells are relate to combustion, consumption, heat, entropy, fuels, energy transference and thermodynamics.

·  **Earth:**  Spells are relate to grounding, cultivation of energy and energy embedding.

·  **Water:**  Spells are relate to flows, forms, cycles, combinations and manipulations.

·  **Wind:**  Spells deal with air, kinetic forces, static energy, free energy and direct ted movement.

A mage is expect to have the ability to manipulate at least one element, no matter their thaumaturgycal theory. This is represent by the special skill that a mage might naturally have with one specific element, being focused on that specific path with what mages refer to as an " **elemental affinity** ", the special connection with an element that makes it natural for the mage to use it. There are cases of mages who possess more than one elemental affinity, or who have affinities with "compound elements", and these are very rare. However, what is the rarer is the mages who have affinities with elements that are "unusual", for instance, the " **imaginary elements** ", like nothingness, these are even rarer, and their skills might be so focus that they are limited in certain aspects. The rarer of all of that, however, is the ones known as " **average ones** ", mages who possess an elemental affinity that allows them to hold and control all of the elements, being the "masters of the five paths", mastering all five elements of the occidental tradition: water, wind, earth, fire, and void. There are equivalents to this in the oriental thaumaturgy traditions, mages who had developed the skills to manipulate all of the vie elements of their traditions: earth, water, fire, wood and metal; these are consider rare among them, and they earn themselves a place of respect among the practitioners of the oriental thaumaturgycal theories.

**Sorcery Trait:**  A  **sorcery trait**  is something that is consider rare, and something that is considered something special to a lineage of mages, and most mages do value these special qualities as much as their Magic Crests, or sometimes even more. A sorcery trait is a special quality that is possessed by a mage and passed down to their descendants and that is consider something that it is hard to imitate to other mages. Some special kind of skill or power that is pass down along a line of mages and that gives them a very special quality to their own deeds.

There are some examples of clans of mages who have very special sorcery traits out there, some of them are of real great power. One example of this is the special, rune-related sorcery trait of the Mieczyslaw clan, which is say to be something special from their founder, the legendary fox of the same name of the clan. It is said that the fox received the knowledge of the primordial runes, and that he used the very power of the runes to bind them to his own bloodline, ensuring that the power and knowledge of the runes would live not only into the mind, but into the blood of all of his descendants. This sorcery trait allows the Mieczyslaw to have the knowledge of the runes as something that comes to them as instinctually as breathing, allowing them to dominate the art of rune magecraft with little to no effort, and making most of them practically self-taught in their art. Not only that, but the knowledge related to the primordial runes allows them to use a level of rune magecraft that usually impress other mages, with some claiming that their runes have not lost the power with the decline of the runic magecraft of the modern world. Also, the deep knowledge of the primordial runes, which were the base to all other runic alphabets, allows them to work with and create new runes that can serve for nearly all of their needs. This is a great and a very powerful example of a trait of sorcery, something that is deeply connect to a specific bloodline and that gives them a quality that makes them truly special.

In the past, a sorcery trait was something that was able to awaken a lot of interest into the Association, enough for these individuals to sometimes receive sealing designations so they could be studied (before the advent of the new laws of the New Mage Codex, of course) if these individuals didn't had enough power or influence to be above such things. In the present days, there are still mages who want to fully understand the nature of sorcery traits, as there are several theories about each one of them individually, once each one of these traits is something in particular on itself.

Mystic Eyes are consider a form of sorcery trait, especially if they are the kind of Mystic Eye that can be inherit, happening with significant frequency inside the same specific bloodline.

**Thaumaturgycal Foundation:**  A thaumaturgycal foundation; also referred to as  **Thaumaturgycal Theory**  or  **Thaumaturgycal School** , is a body of pre-determined rules that determined how a certain kind of magecraft works. It is to say that they are absolute laws that magecraft has to follow, pretty much like the laws of physics for most events of the natural world. Each one of these foundations is a combination of factors and processes that are fundamental for mages to do magecraft, for they dictate how certain kinds of spells are to behave and how they shall do what they do, making them fundamental for the process of magecraft, much like laws of physics are essential to mundane science.

There are many theories about why magecraft has to follow rules stablished by thaumaturgycal foundations, with the most commonly accepted being that they are laws through which the World operates. This way, the only reason why magic is possible is because the World, through these laws, allows for these events to exist.

Each school of magecraft has its own foundation, and the foundations might vary greatly from one type of magecraft to another. There are some that are very close to each other, while there are others that are not only incompatible, but mutually exclusive to each other. The existence of so many thaumaturgycal theories, as well as their differences between each other, has been largely study by some mages, who want to fully understand the laws and mechanisms behind them. There are theories that say that the existence of the current thaumaturgycal theories are a reaction of the World to the waning of Mystery with the end of the Age of Gods. With the disappearing of the power of True Magic of the planet, the World needed to develop a self-contained system that would allow for imitations of the miracles of old times with the little of magic that was still around. This way, the laws of thaumaturgycal theories would be the World creating its own system that would allow for a much weaker form of magic to be able to work in a world in which Mystery was becoming thinner and thinner.

**Onmyodo:**  This is the name of a specific thaumaturgycal foundation, common in the land of Nippon, one that was create based on the thaumaturgycal systems of Feng Shui, in the Yin-Yang system, and in the Five Elements of the Occidental culture. It grew and gained elements from Shintoism, Buddhism and Taoism, making it grow into something that holds some merit of its own.

This style of magecraft excels in divination, curses, exorcisms, summoning, spiritual healing and more, being considered by some a rather versatile school of magecraft. This kind of magecraft is famous not only because of itself, but because of the power that the ones who use it possess, as they are almost their own form of organization, one that practically runs over Nippon and that has few ties with the Mage's Association, what makes difficult for the Association to work in there.

This branch of magecraft is nearly a religion in itself, and most of it is run by families of priests and priestess, who have learned the way from their own lineages and passed it down from generation to generation. These families and practitioners see themselves in a different line from the regular mages. Even though there are some important and influent mage families in Nippon, the practitioners of the art of Onmiodo consider themselves as something apart from the traditional mages, much like the ones who serve the Church consider their Sacraments as something completely separated from the traditional magecraft branches.

After the events of the Great Revealing, there was a lot going on in Nippon, and among these things, there was the fact that some mages and even clans were coming forth and making their presence known. The situation was getting difficult, and that was when the Onmiodos made their presence known to everyone. They have always been present doing the things that the priests of this religion are expect to, like blessing places and exorcising evil spirits and daemons, and this did not changed after the great revealing, with the exception that now they no longer hid their activities. The religion behind their supernatural powers, and the fact that they did things that protected and helped the citizens of Nippon quickly made them gain a great deal of respect and appreciation by the mundane population, making them a very respected force within the country with a great popular support.

**Fur Coloration Change Spell:**  This spell is quite impressive for the mundanes who witness it, but it is rather simple, and any mage with enough skill can learn how to do it and to use it to maximum effect.

This spell, as its own name suggests, serves to alter the coloration of the fur of a mammal. However, unlike dyeing, this change occurs by changing the chemical composition of the fur at a molecular level, causing the change to be effective and permanent, until this same spell is use to change the color of the fur again. It is possible to use it to completely change the coloration of fur, allowing a mammal to even pass by a different variation of the species, like a common red fox passing by a silver fox. However, it is also possible to use it to cause the fur to change to completely unnatural colorations, like a vibrant pink, or a deep purple, allowing a mammal to be made completely different from everyone else, despite this kind of thing calling too much attention. It is also possible to cause the coloration of the fur to change in selective ways, allowing one to create patterns (spots, rosettes, stripes, splats) into the fur that can be of any existing color. Moreover, it is possible to use this spell with great precision, changing the coloration of the fur to create very specific markings in the fur, like runes, specific symbols, or even letter, which form words, making this spell work, in many ways, like a tattoo for animals that have fur.

This spell was create centuries ago as a way of creating specific marks on the fur of animals as a way of identifying their own. It was a way of members of the same faction or clan being able to identify each other through a specific marking that they would have in common in their fur. With the passing of time, it became popular among the younger mages, who used it to play around with their fur and to give themselves vibrant and unrealistic colors, as well as creating symbols and patterns that were akin to tattoos. It is still use up until today for those purposes, and also to help mark and identify some members of important clans, like the Wildes.

After the revealing of the mages to the World, it was only a matter of time before this particular and simple spell became of public knowledge, and as so, soon there were many mammals who became quite interest in it. Tattoos were something that normally was only viable to mammals with little fur to no fur, once they would not be visible through long coats, but this spell offered an option for the animals of thick pelts. Some mages started to offer this spell as cosmetic treatment to mundanes, and some say that this has helped mages grow somewhat more popular…

**Species Change Rituals:**  This is the type of magic that is classify among the greatest ones that someone can ever attempt, considered to be in the ranking of the highest High-Thaumaturgy, bordering on the realm of True Magic.

These rituals, as their very name suggest; are ones that allow a mammal to alter their species, changing from one thing into another. This is not an illusion, but an actual transformation, and it differs from most magic of this type, for it is not a temporary thing or even a simple alteration of appearance and size, this kind of magic goes way beyond this. This kind of magic alters someone, in body and mind, altering biology and instincts, in order to make one thing turn into another. By making this ritual, a mammal is attempting to alter their very nature, the very essence of what they are, and what they will be, forever changing their nature and their very fate. This way, a fox could turn into a bunny, or a gazelle into a lion, and this transformation will remain, for their very essence will change into something else, and this way, they will abandon what they once were and embrace something new, what becomes their new true nature and their new fate. This is what makes this be among the most powerful and the most difficult rituals that could ever be realize for anyone.

These rituals, due to their very nature, are extremely complicated, and they require an insane amount of magical energy to be realize, putting a lot of strain and pressure in a mage. These rituals have hundreds, if not thousands of elements that need to go perfectly, and if a single one of them goes wrong, the results are going to be catastrophic. There are many stories in the world of mages about people who tried to use one of these rituals and ended up turning themselves into abominations that could hardly be classify as mammals, or simply died due to their attempt to change themselves like that. These who did survived and turned into abominations were stuck like that, for attempts to fix the problem could cause it to aggravate, or even result in certain death, not to mention that this kind of way of fixing things is not explored and it could certainly end badly. Outside attempts to help victims of this also represent great danger to the mage who does the rituals, so doing these is something that most will hesitate to do, resulting in victims of this kind of ritual failure usually being stuck like that, and many of them either go in absolute hiding or end their own lives. There are stories about mammals who successfully realized these rituals and changed their species into something else, but it is hard to follow these stories, and they are often left just as tales to be told in bar tables.

The origin of rituals like that can be traced back to the Age of Gods, when there were stories of mammals changing from one species into another, of course, it was a time when True Magic still roamed in the world, and it was something that could be possible during that time. However, in the modern times, something like that is nearly impossible, and reproducing this kind of "miracle" is risky and extremely difficult. These rituals are often left alone, for few have the actual reasons, power and courage needed to actually attempt to do this kind of ritual. Still, some study these rituals in hope of learning new things and achieving new advancements in this kind of area.

**The Third Sorcery:**  The True Magic is something that has long vanished from the World, however, there are traits of it that were left behind in this world, taking the form of the ancient artifacts that still hold at least part of the Mystery from these times, and the very,  **very**  few individuals who still hold some small portion of that magic. There are different kinds of sorcery, each one with a specific type of specialization very much like there are different kinds of thaumaturgycal foundations. For instance, the  **Second Sorcery**  is one that deal with the capacity to access the energy of different universes and existences, allowing the one who uses it to travel through them. However, one of the most famous types of sorcery is the  **Third Sorcery** , one that allows for the materialization of the soul.

The Third Sorcery is something that allows for one to gather the soul form a body and to cause it to materialize, allowing for the one who receives it to become a being that is above the limitations of a physical body, and allowing them to even reach true immortality, as their souls continue into the world without the need for a physical body. This is not the same as becoming a ghost, for someone who has been materialize by the True Sorcery is a being that exists purely as a materialized soul, and it holds an immense power in itself. A great example of this is the materialization of Servants, which are the souls of the deceased brought to the world and materialized into spiritual forms that are superior to any ghost. The Holy Grail is, basically, a great mechanism that allows the use of the Third Sorcery, allowing to summon these beings to the world and to materialize them as pure souls, without a physical body. However, since they are "something that was supposed to be dead", they cannot exist permanently without consequences, and as a result, they need a supply of mana to keep them materialized into this world, which is one of the reasons why Servants need to be attach to a mammal as their Master for their existence. Materializing a soul is something that gives the soul a power much greater than it could possibly have as a mortal, and as a result, the materialized souls have an immense power, that is directly connect to the strength and force of the soul itself. That is why Heroic Spirits, the most powerful souls to ever exist, are beings that are nearly impossible to match. When they are killed, the energy that was used to materialize their souls return to the Holy Grail, and it can be used as emergency power by another Servant, and it is the principle of the wish-granting function that it has during the Holy Grail Wars.

The Third Sorcery also specializes in the control of the soul, once it is necessary to forcibly remove it from the body to allow its materialization. So, the power of this kind of sorcery also allows to summon and to manipulate freely the soul of other beings, allowing to remove them from their bodies and, according to some, even to implant them into another receptacles, be it objects or the bodies of other living beings.

There is only one known mammal in the whole world who holds the power of the Third Sorcery, a sorcerer that is feared and respected all around the globe, including by the Mage's Association. There are also rumors that some important clan holds an ancient relic that possesses the power of the Third Sorcery, being capable of manipulating souls…


	4. Chapter 4

**Soul –**  The soul is something that is of common knowledge to mammals in general, even before the events of the revealing of the existence of magic and of the supernatural. A soul is what makes a mammal be a mammal, the immaterial energy that is the "spirit", the "essence" of a mammal. A soul is what makes a mammal who they are, and it is something that is still up to a lot of debate in the modern day.

A soul is something that can be called "an existence that is separate from the physical body"; existing in a plane of existence that is higher from the body, despite being intrinsically connected to it. It could be said that the body itself is like a "terminal" for the soul, like a "receptacle" for it to exist and move in the physical world. Souls are said to be "indestructible", containing in themselves information that is somehow like DNA, the "genes of the soul", much as the physical body contains genes for the body, this way, it can be said that the core of a soul does not change. Souls are considered the only force in the physical world that is truly eternal, even though a soul cannot exist in this plane without a vessel. However, there are exceptions to this rule, as noted by ghosts, are entities that are formed purely by soul and that were able to remain in this physical world purely by the strength of their will. Even though now they exist as something that is closer to elementals, being existences made of mystery, and as so, they are no longer mammals, even though they retain the same soul, memories, and emotions that they had in life. For an actual materialization of the soul without it having to accumulate  **Mystery**  or undergo a tragic trama, the power of the  **Third Sorcery**  is needed, also referred to as " **Heaven's Feel** ", which allows for the soul to materialize fully in the world and exist even without a physical body.

Souls dwell in this world in their physical bodies until the moment of their deaths, when they (usually) depart from this world and move on to afterlives. During their existence, souls change, with the experiences of the world transforming a soul and making it something different from that pure entity that it was at the beginning of mammal life. Upon the start of their lives, every soul is a completely blank slate with only their core origin, receptive to all that the world has to offer, this is true both to newborn baby mammals as for animunculi that were just create. Souls in this state are considered "pure" and of being "perfect existences", ready to engrave on themselves the information that this world has to offer in the form of experiences. The soul carries these experiences to the afterlife.

The true purpose of the afterlife is to help in the process of "recycling" of souls. Despite there being different types of an afterlife, they all share the same purpose: the fact that they serve for a soul to reflect and remember past experiences until they have been reflected upon so deeply that the soul can finally detach from them. Upon this point, the soul will move out of the afterlife and in the direction to the swirl of the root, where the information that it has acquired will be passed on to the swirl, and the soul will then be redirected back to the world, where it will be reborn in a new form. This process is repeated each time a soul dies, still, some of the information that the soul acquired somehow remains; influencing the individual who has reincarnated. Note that, once a soul has its name written in the Throne of Heroes, they are removed from this cycle, as a result, they might remain in the afterlife for all eternity, and while other souls come and go, they will always be there, remembering their past, and dreaming about it…

As a general rule, each physical body can hold only one soul. However, there are cases in which more than one "soul" can exist into one body, as are the examples of possessions. However, the result of this is that the souls tend to clash, or even attempt to mesh out of pure instinct with each other, and the result can be catastrophic, especially if the two souls are radically different from each other in morals and psyche.

Some entities of spiritual nature have the power to convert the soul, or at least part of it, into magical energy, being able to use it as nourishment. This is something done by daemons in order to feed. Heroic Spirits might also do that, if their masters cannot provide them with the needed energy and if they have no qualms in doing so. In fact, such an act can be realized even by mammals, who might use this to replenish themselves and even to increase their lifespan. Heroic Spirits and daemons can eat souls without consequences due to the superior nature of themselves as spiritual beings, but mammals who "eat" souls end up facing problems, as doing that causes the one absorbing the soul to receive part of the information of the absorbed soul, resulting in memories and even traits of personality passing along. If done for a long time, it can cause a mammal to lose their own identity, causing them to change radically. It is noteworthy that, ever since the coming of the  **New Mage Codex** , for a mammal to "eat souls" is considered a hideous crime, most of the times worth of a sealing designation.

The existence of souls is a fact; however, it is extremely hard to observe and study them, even when it comes to ghosts and other spiritual beings. So, most of the mages classify this as "something worth studying" rather than "something that has been proved and observed". Souls are something that they know exist, but they are a very touchy and elusive subject for most…

**Heroic Spirits**  are considered the purest and most powerful souls that had ever existed and have been recognized by others. The soul of a Heroic Spirit is worth many times more than regular others, with some of the most powerful Heroic Spirits having a single soul being worth of hundreds of thousands of regular souls. They are superior to other souls in all aspects, from purity to density. They are so powerful that, while it is possible for a mammal to be possessed by another soul, like in the cases of possession by ghosts and wraiths, to be possessed by a Heroic Spirit is impossible, as it will result in death of the receptacle, once the body is unable to handle so much power. Only in cases where both the Heroic Spirit and an individual share common traits can a certain union exist between the two...

**Mystery –**  "Mystery" is something that is of vital importance to the world of mages, it is something that is directly related to everything that they do. It is a name given to the slivers of a power of diverse origins and natures, which came from the root, the source of all knowledge and of all that exists in the world.

Mystery is the source of all supernatural events, from  **magecraft**  and  **ESP**  to the beings of the  **phantasmal species** , vampires, ghosts and other spiritual entities. Mystery is something that has been present in the world as a type of knowledge and something that is present in the moment of a beings creation, generated by the root. The world of mammals today is ruled by a set of laws, the laws of physics, which affect all of the matter and energies. Mystery, however, has its own rules.

Mystery is something that accumulates over time, for as long, as a Mystery exists, the more it grows and matures, and the more powerful it becomes. This is directly related to the fact that the power of families of mages grows within each generation, for their magecraft is associated to their bloodlines, and the longer a bloodline has existed, the deeper its Mystery is, and the greater is the power of their magecraft. This also applies to creatures and objects of Mystery.

As a rule, if two similar Mysteries clash, the older of the two will be the one that will prevail. That is why some of the oldest dead Apostles alive, which have been around for millennia, are nearly impervious to any modern magecraft, due to the massive weight of their mystery.

Certain items that have existed for a long time and that have a great story associated with them can sometimes hold Mysteries. That is to say, some objects can become  **Conceptual Weapons**. With time, the story behind them matures, and eventually, it concentrates into a form of Mystery, granting special qualities for these objects. However, these Mysteries are somehow unstable, and as a result, if these objects suffer significant damage, their Mystery will most likely be lost.

Sometimes, it is also possible that mortal mammals, or their bodies, to achieve a certain level of Mystery.

Mystery has a set of rules that make it separate from laws of physics and set it apart from most of what is recognized in the modern day as science. After the revelation of magic and the supernatural, some scientists and other scholars put themselves into researching Mystery in order to try to figure out its mechanics and the precise functioning of this "phenomenon". This is a source of worry to some mages, for they believe that, if Mystery is to be quantify and measure by the parameters of modern science, then it could make it lose its essence and vanish…

**The Deerbrook Clan –** The Deerbrook are a clan of deer that has a good deal of influence and prestige, even though they are not classified among the most powerful mage families of the world. Still, they have enough power to have a certain deal of influence inside of the Association. They are quite famous for their elemental magecraft, as each member of the family has their elemental affinity discovered at a very young age, and as soon as they learn the ways of magecraft, they start being taught in the ways of the magecraft of their specific element. This way, this clan has generated some very promising individuals, even though they don't have the same level of power as the mages of the Wilde clan, they could easily surpass them in the knowledge of specific elemental magecraft, allowing them to be better at this than the Wildes. However, the foxes still would surely beat them in a battle of mages. It is not uncommon for the members of the clan have special  **Mystic Codes**  that were created specially in order to tune with their element of affinity, becoming weapons that they use to access the full power of their elements.

Recently, the clan had a whole situation involving another important clan: the Clawhausers. It all started when a young member of the clan, a little cheetah named Benjamin Clawhauser, wandered into their home and was found by the young heir of the Deerbrook clan. The situation was a little tense, and it ended with the two young mammals bawling, Benjamin because he was lost, and the young heir because of Benjamin's own crying. After this event, these two mammals have become closer to each other, becoming best friends, and eventually turning into something more. The marriage request was received with mixed reactions by the Deerbrook, for while they didn't appreciate the union in terms of the "viability of heirs", it was a chance to unite with a clan of great power and prestige, what would surely improve greatly the position of the clan in many ways. Eventually, they were in favor of the union, and the marriage was prepared. However, it never happened, for a tragedy struck, and this tragedy was the cause that has led Benjamin to finally say "I'm done!" to the world of mages. The cheetah decided to cut ties with the magic world, leaving behind only a note to the heir, telling that he was leaving everything behind, breaking the engagement and that they should never have any contact again. Things have been quite tense between the two clans ever since…

**The Vanhorne Clan –**  The Vanhorne clan is one that has a long story with the Clock Tower, being one of the clans said to be present during the foundation of the Mage's Association. As a result, the Vanhorne is a clan with a long history, traced back to the last years of the Age of Gods, making them one of the oldest around, and one of the most powerful and influent. Their main branch of magecraft is astrology, something that goes beyond what mundanes understand as astrology, which is the reading of the luck based on the stars. Astrology is a branch of magecraft that deals with the influence of the stars and celestial bodies upon magecraft, and upon calling unto their power to use them in several purposes. Of course, it also includes some forms of divination and in readying luck, but true astrology goes way beyond that, allowing one to tap into the forces of the universe and use them for a variety of purposes, including defensive and offensive. They are particularly famous for their magecraft based on the celestial signs of the zodiac.

In recent times, the clan has been losing power, as some of the younger generations were being born with slightly less quality of Magic Circuits than the previous, resulting into the power of the clan oscillating significantly. Some took this as a sign that the clan was weakening and that it could possibly lose its power. However, these claims quickly vanished when the heir of the clan, Gisele Vanhorne, was born with a great deal of power and talent for magecraft, enough for them to consider her a prodigy, and enough for her to earn the title of Archmage. This was enough to convince everyone that the Vanhorne clan would recover their power and influence, as with someone as talented as Gisele as their heir and leader, their future is surely secure…

**The Krila Clan –**  This is a famous clan of bats of western Roarope. They originated in the regions near Serbia, and that was the land where they thrived for centuries, gaining fame as powerful shamans and as leaders. With time, the clan got involved in many economic and political affairs of their land, and this helped them grow to become great. Today, the Krila clan is famous in their homeland as a very noble and very influent clan of bats, who own around one-third of Serbia through the ownership of lands and through many commercial businesses with important companies, some members of this clan are even into the politics. The clan is famous for their great skill in the art of summoning magecraft. They are renowned for being able to summon beings that are powerful projections of things that existed in the past, including ghosts, imitations of the Phantasmal Species, and spirits of nature and of the elements. This clan may not have the resources and the power that the Wilde clan possesses in the art of summoning, but they are powerful in their own right. Each member of this clan even specializes in one type of summoning, allowing them to summon beings to serve as their familiars, and they even have a tradition of every member of the clan summoning their first "familiar" by the time that they turn ten. Members of this clan are famous for having an array of favored creatures that they will summon in a battle to fight their battles for them, making them somewhat dangerous even for the bigger mammals.

Despite their power, the Krila is an example of a clan that never had too many ties with the Mage's Association. During the time when the Association came to them, the clan agreed to keep peaceful interaction with them, but they refused their offer to join their ranks, instead, preferring to keep to themselves and mind their own business. As a result, while the clan was not persecuted or bothered by the Association, they kept to themselves, not taking part on the political plots and dances of the Association and keeping away from their business. They even refused to give them their rituals and spells in trade for their patents, because they believed that their spells should be their alone, and they didn't want to deliver their secrets to others just like that. However, things have changed in recent times, and the Krila has recently joined the Association after so long, and as so, the clan has slowly been integrating to their traditions and politics…

**The Sanders Clan –**  The Sanders are a clan whose origins can be traced to somewhere in the deserts of Afurika, in the great lands of the Sahara, where the fennec foxes developed and where they thrived under the heat of the desert. They are an old clan, famous for having survived all manners of tragedies, mass killings and all other forms of disasters, said to be great survivalists molded by the merciless heat of the desert. Their main branch of magecraft is a variation of Earth Magecraft, focusing into the kind of soil that is so common on the land where they lived. Sand Magecraft is said to have been created by these fennec foxes, a kind of magecraft that made the very sands where they walked the target of their magecraft, and this was something that they were said to be specialized in. The stories of how the members of the clan are able to raise the sands into the air to create sandstorms, or to move them in order to create gigantic claws made of sand, are famous across the land where they originated. There are even stories about how some of the most skilled members of the clan are able to cause the sand itself to gain life, acting as their obedient defender in moments of great need.

Recently, this clan has had some small internal turmoil, as a member of the clan has defied the traditions and chosen a mundane to be her mate and husband, even abandoning the clan upon marrying him and taking on his name…

**The Calves Clan –** The Calves is a very recent clan, one that has only three generations of mages, something that is considerably little when you consider the long history of most of the aristocratic families of mages who exist. In fact, the first mage of the clan was the lover of a mage, who only picked up the basic of magecraft in their pillow talks. The second one was her daughter, who only practiced magecraft in honor of her mother's memory. Finally, the third mage of the clan is Walter, who was the first one to effectively pursue and study magecraft.

Since the clan is so new, and since they never truly studied or pursued magecraft in life until Walter, their foundation of magecraft is nearly inexistent, as well as their wealth and influence in the world of mages. However, Walter Calves was soon able to make a name for himself, not for his magecraft, but for his uncanny intelligence and for his observation skills, which allowed him to pick up the principles of magecraft and to decipher it through observation alone. He was the first one who wasn't in the ranking of  **Crown**  or  **Brand**  to earn to the title of  **Archmage** , and all of this because he could use his own skills to fight and win against other Archmages. He also made quite a name for himself as a teacher, as while he cannot increases his own capacities as a mage (at least not the way he would like) he can guide other mages to become all that they can be. It is said that all of the ones who studied under him had bloomed into top mages…

**The Leoway Clan –**  The Leoway clan is a family of lions who are among the oldest and most powerful families of mages in the world. This family can be traced back in time to somewhere in the final decades of the Age of Gods, making them one of the oldest families that exist, therefore, their mystery is ancient, and they have great power when compared to other clans. They are famous for their amazing skill in magecraft, which allowed them to create many spells and rituals that the Clock Tower still uses today. Another trait that they had is that they are all amazingly charismatic, something that many claim to be a sorcery trait, being something that others refer to as "a charisma that is fit for kings". This causes others to feel either intimidated, allured or even inspired by their presence, allowing them to have an edge of advantage over others with their presence alone. Some claim that this great charisma that the Leoway have is connected to their origins, which are said to be directly connected to the Pendragon lineage, the same family from which came the famed King Leonidas.

Among the mundanes, the Leoway family is already famous as the owner of great enterprises and of many businesses in Roarope, making them rich and extremely influent in the mundane world, as much as they had always been as mages. This influence and power that they already had, coupled with their own charisma and with their amazingly polite and social attitude was what helped them to have a widely positive reception to the world once they revealed their nature as a clan of mages.

There are many rumors about the Leoway clan, including the one that they have their own assassins, which they would often use to eliminate the ones who oppose them, of course, none of these rumors has been proved, and the Leoway themselves dismiss such claims as "absurd"…

**The Jiraf Clan –**  This is one of the clans that specialized in the art of  **voodoo**. These giraffes are very skilled in the art of the voodoo, and they are feared for their great dominion of this, that allows them to curse their enemies. Stories of how the Jiraf had already used their art to kill enemy mages are famous, as well as the stories of how they helped defeat great dangers of spiritual origins for the Clock Tower. They are so efficient and powerful in this art that other families of practitioners see them as great masters of the trade, dubbing them the "voodoo queens and kings". Like most clans who practice the art, they see it not only as a form of magecraft but as a religion to which they devote their lives and their culture, as a part of who they truly are. They have rituals and sets of believes that they follow and that help to guide them in their lives, and they are strong believers of this.

As masters of the voodoo, the Jiraf are the leaders of their own group of voodoo users, formed by followers of their religion. They are often persecuted by the ones who don't understand their ways, and so, they are used to live under the radar of most things. With the revelation of magic and supernatural, they also know that they could be persecuted more than ever, and that is why they continue to be careful…

**The Okitsuno Clan –**  The clan of Okitsuno is one of great fame into the land of Nippon, even though they are looked upon with some degree of fear and mistrust, due to the exact thing that makes them be so special. The whole Okitsuno clan is said to be a descendant of the legendary Gyumao, a figure of the mythology of Nippon that was said have been a powerful Demon King. While this claim is yet to be proved officially, it is known that the clan Okitsuno has the blood of the  **Oni Kind**  running into their veins, making them a clan of  **mixed-bloods**. This powerful blood that runs into their veins causes them to be stronger than the regular mammal, making them spectacularly good in physical combat, and it also grants them to have a greater ability with magic related to the fire, allowing them to summon "demoniac Oni flames" that make them truly dangerous in battle. The clan is watched with caution because there is one report in which the Oni blood of a member of the clan had been awakened, making them turn into an Oni that started to pose a threat to innocents and had to be eliminated. Still, the clan seems to have "tamed" their Oni ancestry, they are able to access this power with little risks for themselves, and this makes them be respected by the ones who have met them.

This clan is also famous because the heir and head of the clan, Okitsuno Kazuma, is the CEO of one of the greatest companies of Nippon, one that has resources and business across seas, all of the way to Animerica. When the revealing of magecraft came to the world, the Okitsuno clan was among the ones who stepped forward, with Kazuma making his nature as a mage a known fact for who wanted to know, even giving demonstrations of his magecraft. Of course, with this revelation it was only a matter of time before their Oni ancestry also became common knowledge. This made many raise their eyebrows and look with mistrust to the clan. However, the power and money that Kazuma had harnessed with his company, as well as the amount of influent and powerful allies that he had made among other CEOs and politicians, has granted him the ability to silence most of the ones who tried to talk bad about him. Also, the fact that Oni's are not so ill-reputed in the modern Nippon culture has helped him improve his reputation and to make others see him in a better light, and this makes him a quite influent figure among the mundanes, especially among the young, who see him as someone very interesting and inspiring. Still, he still has many enemies who would love to bring him down, and are just waiting for a chance to do so…

**The Huyan Clan –**  The Huyan are known into the Far East as one of the most powerful clans of Asia. This clan formed entirely by tigers is one of the clans that form the  **council of the dragon**. They are said to be the descendants of Bi Àn, a being that was half-dragon and half-tiger, and one of the nine sons of the legendary Dragon King. This clan is famous for their dominion of the Feng Shui magecraft, that is so common in their homeland, and they have authority over a significant portion of the territory of China. They are famous for their sense of duty and justice, something that was, according to some, inherited from Bi Àn, who was a being extremely connected to litigation, as a result, this clan is famous for handling most of the legal and judiciary affairs that are under their domain, often acting as judges. They are also responsible for disciplining and punishing criminals of the world of mages of Asia, mostly using specially designed places where they are incarcerated. They are said to be the judges of the Council of the Dragon, and that they will always take the best and most well-thought decisions, making them quite feared and respected.

Recently, a certain event caused internal conflict in the clan, as the daughter of the head of the clan got involved and married a tiger of the Mage's Association. This event was a political situation that involved both the Council and the Association, as the two tigers were in love, and it was obvious that they were not going to be talked out of being together, and they were strong enough as few actually dared to defy them, aside of their superiors and relatives. Still, they stayed together, and she gave birth to his child, a small white tiger. As this tiger grew, it soon was clear that there was something exceptional about him, for somehow he had managed to inherit the  **Thaumaturgycal Foundations**  of both west and east, Foundations that had always rejected each other, and somehow he managed to mesh them both into his own magecraft.

During the time of the revelation of magecraft to the world, the Council was very busy, including the Huyan. They spent a good deal of their time controlling mages who were trying to take advantage of the fear and confusion in order to commit crimes and break the regulations. It was a hard time, but the clan once more showed why they were part of the Council, and honored their name as descendants of Bi Àn.

**Oni Kind –**  This is the name given to a specific breed of demonic entity that is found especially in the lands of Nippon, represented by scorching heat and inferno. They are creatures of the Phantasmal Kind, a type that is traditional in the legends of Nippon, and are referred to as Yōkai. Oni's are the many different demons, creatures, and spirits that dwell in the darkness and feed on mammals in order to sustain themselves, these beings of evil and supernatural nature are capable of bringing disasters and suffering over whole villages.

Of course, with the decline of the  **Age of Gods** , these creatures, like all other members of the Phantasmal Species, started to disappear from the world, dying or migrating to the  **Reverse Side** , because of this, these creatures are now all but extinct. However, it is still possible for Oni to materialize into the World under special circumstances, which include the summoning through the magecraft of mammals, allowing the minor ones to materialize as shadows of what once existed, serving as their minions and, occasionally, being able to escape their control.

Another thing that is worth to mention was that the Oni left behind "descendants", which are the ones from bloodlines that mixed mammal blood with the ones of Oni, resulting in these families being particularly powerful or having special qualities that bring them closer to their Oni ancestors…

**Mixed-Blood –** Mammals can breed among themselves, and the result is a child. Everyone knows that. Often, when parents of different species breed, the result can be quite… interesting. For some that are close to each other in a genus, the result is a hybrid who is perfectly healthy and even capable of breeding, as the case of coywolves and ligers. However, it is also possible, but rarer, for species of completely different genus and families to breed among themselves, resulting into hybrids of very interesting qualities. Nowadays, there are a little over a thousand hybrids worldwide, and while in the past these creatures were seen as freaks and even as monsters, nowadays, the world has evolved (somehow), and the existence of these individuals is somewhat better than it once was. However, mammals can only breed with other mammals, that is a simple biological rule that nature has set in place.

However, when it comes to the supernatural, these rules sometimes get toss out of the window. It is perfectly possible for mammals to breed with creatures of the Phantasmal Kind, or even with demons, resulting in a child that is what the mage community refers to as a " **mixed-blood** ". These creatures hold qualities of their supernatural parents, but their existence is allowed into the World, for they are "half-mammals". Such beings are more than mere mammals, and they often show that in their behavior, and in the power that they possess, making them beings of great fear, as some might see them as "abominations that must be erased", due to them being "distortions" of the natural world.

There are cases in which the mixed-bloods often pass their "qualities" to their descendants, resulting into certain families that are literally descendants of monsters, demons, or even of dragons. These individuals often have qualities that make them superior to regular mammals. Still, the diluted bloodline makes them closer to normal mammals, and this way, they are not distortions like their antecessors, even though there are cases in which their "supernatural blood" can awaken, resulting in transformations on them that might make them become targets…

**Magical Patents –**  Families of mages need money; this is a fact. They need money to pay their bills, to fund their researches and, sometimes, lifestyles that combine with the nobility and elegance of the clan. Their money can come from several sources, including both magical and mundane. Mages can have great enterprises in the mundane society, as well as dealings in the stock markets, possession of mines of precious metals, and even certain "underworld dealings". However, the most common, and preferred, way of mages making money is through their magical patents.

Mages spend a great part of their lives in thaumaturgical researches, and in this, they develop many theories and rituals that prove of great efficiency and of great utility, not only to themselves but also to the other mages who use them. In virtue of this, the Clock Tower developed a system that is very similar to the patents of inventions made by mundanes. Through this system, a mage who has invented a new theory or ritual of utility and of significant meaning, can lend it to the Clock Tower, to be used by its members and by other mages who can afford the access, making a patent out of it. As a result, the Association gains something substantial to their records, and in return, the mage is paid an amount of money periodically, just as the non-mage inventors receive money from the patents of their inventions. This is a system that is highly functional, and while anyone can make patents of a new theory or ritual, as long as it is not similar to one that already exists. It is to be noted that some patents give more money than others, depending on their utility and on how they benefit the Association.

Most of the oldest families of mages have made great theories and rituals throughout the centuries, and each one that is added adds to the income of money of the clan. So, while the clan will obviously not give away all of their theories and rituals to the Clock Tower, they will often give them some of their discoveries in order to increase their budget. That is why the oldest mage families also tend to be the richest. For instance, clans like the Bellwethers, the Wildes, and the Clawhausers make millions a year with their magical patents alone…

**Rankings of the Clock Tower –** Placing ranks on things is something that is almost natural to do as part of quantifying and understanding the world, and so, it is no surprise that the Clock Tower would have its own classification system to determine the power of mages. These rankings exist to classify each mage depending on their level of power, and it is something that used in the Mage's Association to determine certain aspects, including the internal hierarchy.

The ranks are as follow:

1.  **Grand – Crown** : This is absolutely the highest ranking that a mage of the Association can have, and those with this ranking are considered the top of the world, the best of the best and the most powerful mages alive. The giving of this rank is rare, having happened only around two dozen times in all of the hundreds of years of the history of the Association. Those who have this rank always have the title of Archmage as well, even though the rank right beneath this one is the one most Archmages have.

2.  **Brand – Color** : This is a rank that is directly above Crown, and it is only given to the best of the best. This is the rank possessed by most of the ones who receive the title of Archmage and is the rank in which there are many powerful mages, like Asher Bellwether and Noah Wilde.

3.  **Pride – Law** : This is the ranking of the mages who have a great potential for magic and great power, but are still not considered to be the "best of the best", not being strong enough to receive the rank of Brand. Still, the ones in this ranking are way above an average mage, and they are the kind you will think twice before trying to mess with…

4.  **Fes – Festival** : This is a ranking that is possessed by the mages who are considered to be "fully grown" but don't show any particular outstanding magical capacities. This is the rank in which Walter Calves, a famous name within the Association, finds himself. Despite his lack of phenomenal magical abilities, Calves was able to earn himself the title of Archmage (the first one not of the ranks Crown or Brand to manage to do so), due to his great intelligence and planning capacity, which allowed him to fight and win against other Archmages, convincing many that he deserved the position.

5.  **Cause – Open** : This is the ranking of most of the mages, being what they would call "average".

6.  **Count – Oldest Child** : This is the ranking of a student that is above the "average", but shows a great level of potential. It is usually given to the ones who are learning magecraft and who show to be promising at it, or at least to have learned and grown enough not to be considered  **Frame**  anymore.

7.  **Frame – Youngest Child** : This is the lowest of all rankings of the Association, given to the amateurs and to the students who just started learning.

There is also a ranking in the Association that is based not in power, but in the uniqueness of a craft, using a system of colors to classify mages with special abilities that are of great interest. The classification in rankings starts with  **Red** ,  **Blue** , and  **Yellow** , the three primary colors, representing the mages with the most unique abilities. These titles are followed by  **Orange** ,  **Purple** ,  **Green** , and  **Black** , with each color representing a lesser rank.

It is noteworthy that, while the mages of the Middle East and the Far East do not use the exact same classification as the Clock Tower, they had their own forms of classifying skill and the power of mages…

**Enlightened Science –**   **The Technocracy**  and its members give this name to their own Thaumaturgical Theory. Like all other of the kind, this theory has its own principles, based on predetermined rules that work on a certain way and can be achieved through certain methods by those who have  **Magic Circuits**. This type of theory differs from all the others, mostly because it is much closer to actual science than to magic, both in its processes and in its theoretical functioning. This theory works with precise and efficient ideas and processes, dealing with the laws of thermodynamics, with quantic processes and with the overall functioning fitting into the laws of biology, chemistry, and physics. This thaumaturgical theory is the one that can be said for sure that is actually a science, even though it is a science that somehow differs from the traditional kind.

Many of the theories around it make it have its own definition for the things that mages know so well. The Magic Circuits, for instance, are called " **Quantum Circuits** ", and the  **magic energy** , so common to all that the mages do and talk about, is referred to them by " **organic mammal energy** ", " **quantum energy** ", and other names that differ from the supernatural and make it way closer to the actual scientific principle that they form.

Another thing about this kind of theory is that it has many "sub-theories" that cover nearly all other possible effects of other thaumaturgical theories. For instance, they are able to practice something that is akin to the alchemy with their "enlightened chemistry", as well as to achieve effects of hypnosis and memory alteration by making use of their "enlightened psychology". These sub-theories make this one of the most versatile theories that can be used, even though it might become limited in certain moments, as it is subject to many of the laws of the natural world, which can influence it in many ways, affecting the final result. It is safe to say that this kind of theory picks up anything that can be achieved through magecraft and gives it a much more scientific approach than the actual magecraft.

As part of the teachings of their theory, most of the Technocrats, if not all of them, honestly and truly see themselves as practitioners not of the supernatural, but of science. They will refer to themselves as scientists, as scholars, perhaps even as "sages" in one moment or another, but they will refuse to refer to themselves as "mages" or "wizards", or to see what they do as "magic", for they honestly believe that these terms are born from lack of understanding. Also, due to their upbringing they have absolutely no qualms in relation to technology, as some of the most traditional mages do, and they will gladly approach and use it in their everyday lives and in their researches, once they believe that what they do is science, and so, it is pretty much the same as technology.

Many mages say that the Technocrats and their "enlightened science" is pretty much the same as with the  **Church**  and its  **Sacraments**. They might call it "divine gift", "science", "logical process", or anything else that they like, but the fact is that what they do is magecraft in its purest form, the use of a thaumaturgical theory to impose their own will upon the world. Of course, saying that aloud in their presence is one of the easiest ways to start a heated argument…

**Vodun –**  "Vodun", "Vodou", "Voudun", "Voodoo", these are different names form something that in its essence is the same, a specific brand of magecraft that has its origins in Afurika, and that is a religion as much as it is a form of magecraft. This is more than a process that allows for magecraft, is a religion, for some, it is even a way of life. It is hard to precise the exact origin of Vodun, but it is known that it is something that became quite popular during the 17th century in certain places of Afurika when it started to make its presence known among the people. As its popularity grew, it started to spread across the globe, and many versants of it were born. Vodun is looked with a certain interest, for it is a branch of magecraft that has been split into multiple sub-branches in the last centuries, leading that today there are many versions of it, even though most of it revolves around the same basic principles.

In its essence, Vodun revolves around the concept of spirits that are responsible for the workings of the world, and many of its bases revolve around praying and influencing these spirits to be able to achieve the desired effects. As a result, Vodun has many qualities that make it closer to witchcraft, specializing in magecraft that affects the world, cursing, divination, spiritual healing, and exorcism.

Due to its origins, some look upon Voodoo with a lot of mistrust, both the mundanes and the magic community, who mostly sees it as a form of witchcraft, something that is very dangerous to deal with and that should be watched closely. The practitioners of Voodoo have already suffered many persecutions, both in old and recent times and with the revelation of magecraft, they had to be double careful, for their misunderstood ways lead others to often think the worse of them.

Many families have devoted themselves to the ways of the Voodoo, taking it to their hearts as a way of living and of seeing the world, and many of them have become experts in the arts and rituals of their culture, many times leading them to be both feared and respected by the rest of the mage community.

**Formalcraft –**  This is a method of magecraft that uses the  **mana**  from the  **World**  instead of the  **od**  of ones' own body. This is not a thaumaturgical theory per se, it is more of a style of using magecraft in which you are able to use specific methods to force the world itself to power up rituals and spells. This kind of style of magecraft is favored of newer clans, who use it to be able to summon the magical energy that they are not able to produce themselves, but it is also used by more experienced mages who need a great amount of energy that would drain theirs too much. This is the basic way in which one can remove magical energy from the ley line in order to use them for rituals.

There are two traditional ways of using formalcraft. The first one is through the use of chants and magic circles. This way, through long chants and very precise circles, a mage is able to gather mana from the world and focus it in a way that it can be easily used through the right arias and components. This type of formalcraft is the one that is more accepted and used among mages, unlike the second method.

The second method of formalcraft revolves around the use of sacrifices. By taking the lives of other creatures, through their blood, their pain, their lives, and their very soul, a mage is able to force the world to lend energy to them, so they can power up their spells and themselves. The type of life sacrifice used in the ritual directly influences the amount of mana that one is able to gather from the world. Firstly, the type of creature killed influences it, with more elevate lifeforms allowing more energy, this way, a chicken will be a better sacrifice than a spider, a crocodile will be better than a chicken, and a mammal sacrifice will be better than any other animal. Also, the number of sacrifices will influence the power of the formalcraft, with a lot of chickens having the potential to offer a better formalcraft than the sacrifice of a single crocodile. This style of formalcraft has become less and less popular in the centuries following the implantation of the New Mage Codex, especially the sacrifices of mammals, which became a crime worthy of the most severe punishments.

Formalcraft is a style of magecraft that does not relies on the capacity of ones' own magical circuits, so it can be done by virtually anyone who has the right knowledge to do so. Matter of fact, formalcraft is possibly the only type of magecraft that even mundanes can utilize, for it allows them to use its principles to gather the magical energy from the World to do rituals and spells; however, having magical circuits can directly influence in the efficiency of magecraft. Because of this, even though even mundanes can use it if they follow the rules right, mundanes can't really achieve the same results that a mage could by using their own magical energy to jumpstart the formalcraft.

**Archmage –**  There are mages, and there are  **Archmages**. Being an Archmage is a title, one that represents that you have reached a level of skill and power in magecraft that qualifies you as being far above the regular mages, putting you practically into a class of your own. Archmages are famous in the world of mages, as they are said to be the most powerful mages alive and to have skills and knowledge in magecraft that other mages would take centuries of studies and training to be able to accomplish.

To receive the title of Archmage is something of an honor in the world of mages, and rare. Today, only around fifty mages alive bear the title of Archmages. Among these, some notable names are  **Asher Bellwether** ,  **Noah Wilde** ,  **Verona Höleh** ,  **Hannibal Sanders** ,  **Armand Kudura** ,  **Cody Maskell** ,  **Gisele Vanhorne** ,  **Rodrigo Villalobos** ,  **Leonardo P. Leoway**  (the youngest mammal to ever receive this title), and  **Walter Calves**. Walter is a particular case, as he achieved this title due to his capacity to fight and win against other Archmages in spite of his skills as a mage being irremediably regular…

An Archmage is someone who reached a great mastery of magecraft and classified as one of the most powerful mages alive, still, sometimes Archmages can be defeat by someone who does not bear the same title, even though these events are very rare. Due to their great power, Archmages might be considered by many as the only mortals that would have an actual chance of fighting and emerging victorious against Heroic Spirits (depending on the situation and on how weak the Heroic Spirit is).

All of the members of the  **Mages' Council**  are Archmages.

**Bottom of the Bridge –**  The Bridge that connects the physical world of the museum in Liondon with the space where the  **Clock Tower**  exists is a huge series of tunnels, made by a dragon who tried to dig its way to the Reverse Side of the World, but died without being able to. However, the dragon left behind these tunnels, which led to the place where the Clock Tower would eventually be built. These series of tunnels are something that crosses the existence of the material plane but are not able to make it to the other side, and walking into them can warp the perceptions of mammals. This is a place that generates a great resource for mages, for it allows them to have a place where they can act and move freely without risking detection from the outside. The entrance of the cave is the only way to access these tunnels and the domain of the Clock Tower, doing so is otherwise impossible, unless you make use of the  **Second Sorcery**.

These tunnels are long and filled with a great internal space into themselves, once they were dug not only through the ground but also through the very fabric of the space and of the dimensions. Among these tunnels, there is a space of great importance and of great fear, which is known simply as the  **bottom of the bridge**. This is a place that has always been used to store certain mages that were put into suspension due to sealing designations and were deemed to be way too dangerous because of their capacities.

After the advent of the New Mage Codex, and the releasing of most of the ones who received sealing designations, the place acquired a new purpose for itself, which was the same as before. Now that the sealing designations were given as the harsher of punishments in the world of mages, akin to a death sentence, this place is used to store all of the mages who receive sealing designations. Those who have received sealing designations have received them so they remain in suspension for all eternity, so they can no longer pose threats to others. Once they are put into suspension, they are carried to this place and placed in there, where they are so deep that the chances of them escaping or being recovered by someone who wants to free them are absolutely minimal.

This is a place that nearly all mages know exist, but its existence is kept from the mundane public, as well as the tunnels themselves and the Clock Tower, because their existence is directly connected to the headquarters of the Mage's Association. This is the kind of information that is still kept in secret, to protect the mages in there, both staff and students, from possible attacks from extremist groups of mundane origins.

**Kalion Observatory –**  The Kalion Observatory is considered by many as the most important building of the Clock Tower, being the very first room that was ever built in that place, older than all the others.

This is a special room that serves for the purpose of reunions in order to determine everything that has to do with sealing designations. During the times before the New Mage Codex, this room was a place where it was observed individuals of interest, so it could be decided if they were or not worthy of being preserved for studies. However, during the time of the Codex, it was in this room in which was discussed the revocation of most of the previous sealing designations and the institution of the sealing designation only as the ultimate form of criminal punishment.

Now, this is the place where the council and the authorities group to discuss the emission of sealing designations for criminals, as well as the possible revocation of these. Sealing designations might be evocated for a series of reasons, including the discovery of new evidence that cleans the blame of the mage who was accused of the crimes, as so, the council will evaluate the evidence and the decision of the revocation of the sealing order will be made.

**Terrain Tartarus –**  The Terrain Tartarus is a well-known place in the world of mages. It is the name given to the biggest and most famous prison for mages of the world.

Before the advent of the New Mage Codex, places like prisons were not familiar to the world of mages. Mages were used to dealing with things their own ways, ignoring crimes that didn't risk exposing them to the world and they were used to either eliminate the ones who posed a threat or to deliver another kind of harsh punishment. The advent of the new laws that the Mieczyslaw clan created was the start of a new age because it determined that the mages should follow the rules of behavior, and those who broke these rules should be punished accordingly. One of the greatest changes that it caused was that it created the punishment of incarceration to those who commit crimes and with this the first prisons for mages.

These were places that served as punishment for the mages who broke their rules and posed threats to society. A disciplinary form that consisted of taking away the freedom and the time of a mage, time that they could use in research and in pursuing their personal or clan's goals. This was the kind of punishment that represented something serious for a mage, and so, this was something that helped them regulate their behavior.

There are a few dozens of prisons for mages around the world, but the most famous of them is, indubitably, Terrain Tartarus. This is what would be what's considered a "maximum security prison", a place that was made especially for imprisoning the mages who were the most dangerous and committed atrocious crimes. If you did terrible things that were not considered revolting enough to receive a sealing designation, you instead are sent to this place, where are all kinds of mages who did horrible things and were considered highly dangerous. If you go here, you are going to stay at least for a few decades. The place has the most powerful forms of  **magic circuit suppressing** , both in the forms of collars and in the form of bounded fields, and its very location is protected by powerful bounded fields. In fact, only a handful of mammals truly know the exact location of the place, and even the inmates don't know where the place is exactly, because the bounded fields blur their perception, preventing them from recognizing the place.

This is a place considered the top prison of the mage world, to where only the worst scum is sent to and is the kind of place that mages will try to avoid nearly as much as they want to avoid getting a sealing designation…

**Spiritron –**  Souls are subject to a lot of debate, and there are mages who try to study this extremely elusive subject, and some of them had achieved some kind of advancement. Even the Technocracy, famed for its logic above everything else and for their embracing of science over supernatural, have members among their ranks who try to understand this thing called a soul. They have made some progress as well, as they have somehow "discovered" the particles that form the matter of the soul, something that they named "spiritrons".

Spiritrons are as elusive and mysterious as the soul itself, which is only natural since they are the very thing from which souls are made of. Their existence has already been proven through many theoretical experiments, even though there is no absolute and irrefutable evidence. There are some researches going on, including the production of "synthetic spiritrons". Of course, some dismiss it as absurd, but there are rumors about how this research in Spiritrons (which, according to some, the Bellwethers managed to steal from the Technocracy) made possible to produce animunculi with the highest quality of Magic Circuits.

**The Mages' Council –**  Mage's Association is the organization that manages all of the affairs of mages all across the Occident. The working of the Association is pretty much similar to any government, with a chain of command and with several processes to optimize the efficiency and to ensure that everything is going to go as smoothly and well as possible. On the very top of the hierarchy of the Association, is the Mages' Council, often referred to only as " **The Council** ".

The council is formed by thirteen mages, all of which have achieved the position and title of archmages, and which are the main executive and administrative authority of the Clock Tower and of the Association. The council makes most, if not all of the important decisions of the Association, including the emission and revocation of sealing designations.

Each one of the thirteen members of the council is an archmage, a mage considered among the most powerful of the world, and they are the kinds with which most of the other mages would never dare to defy. Each one of these mages is entrusted with the future of the Association, and each one of them has only its best interests in mind. However, they are also mages, and as such, they have their own personal goals and agendas, and the council is not free from the political dances and plotting that makes the world of mages. One example of this would be during the time of crisis of the revealing of magecraft, when the council truly seemed divided, as some members were considering a pacific approach while others were all in favor of the armed conflict. This served to prove that the council is not as unified and cooperative as some might think…

**The Council of the Dragon –**  For a long time, the Mage's Association has considered the thaumaturgical theories of the Middle East and of the Far East to be incompatible with their own traditions and with their teachings, just as their traditions were mostly incompatible with theirs'. As a result, it became very hard for communities of so different styles of magecraft interact, and this kind of difficulty was what ended up molding their relations with time. The Association still has difficulty to operate in these regions, once the events of the past made it hard for their societies to connect. As a result, the Association has little to no direct influence over these areas, and they are not actively part of the Association. However, that does not mean that these places have no organization of their own, for they had long developed their own ways of dealing with their own affairs and managing their own mages. Among the Asiatic organizations of magic, maybe the most famous across the globe is the  **Council of the Dragon**.

Across Asia, mages are greatly independent and individualist, with the teachings of magic and dealing of magecraft occurring mostly in a personal level, with some mages even choosing to become nomads and to keep each discovery and specific tradition only inside of their own families and groups. However, there is a greater form of organization, which takes the form of nine families of mammals. Each one of these families would be the descendant of one of the  **nine offspring of the dragon** , the legendary children of the famed Dragon King. While there are some who openly question that claim, the truth is that these nine clans are the oldest and most powerful families of mages of Asia. They live all across the territory, in Chine, in Mongoosia, in Korea, and each one of them has a position of power and respect into the land they live into, being the official judges and regulators of everything that happens inside their domains. Together, these nine families, each one lead by a mammal who is the "head of the family", form the Council of the Dragon, also referred to as  **Council of the Nine** , and they are the ones who control and oversee everything that happens in Asia.

Each family has the deepest authority within their territory, and when there is a situation of great importance, the heads of each one of the families gather in the council, to be able to discuss and plan for the situations at paw. However, such reunions of the council of the dragon are rare; in fact, they have only happened three times in the past five hundred years. The most recent one has been only a month after the Great Revealing and the Interview of the Millennia when they needed to make a decision about the course of action now that the world knew of the existence of magic. Nowadays, the existence of the council is of common knowledge of everyone in Asia, but the names of the families, as well as the identities of the heads of the clans, are a secret that is kept from the mundane population…


	5. Chapter 5

**Texture –** A  **texture**  is a name given to a layer of the fabric of reality. The  **World**  is formed not only by one but, by multiple layers of textures, all folded together around the surface of the planet. The textures include the "material world" in which mammals and other mortals reside and where the laws of physics currently reign, and right beneath it is the " **reverse side of the world** ", which is in a different texture that contrasts with the texture of the material world, as if they were "two sides of the same coin". The textures also include other "states of reality", like the dimension in which spiritual beings roam on the edge of the material world and, according to some studies, multiple afterlives.

Textures exist each one as a layer of its own, and they normally do not interact and are irremediably separated from each other. However, it is sometimes possible to induce textures to sometimes warp or interact directly with each other, but this kind of event demands an absurd amount of magical energy and a level of magic that just cannot be found in modern magecraft. As a result, this kind of thing can only be made by extremely powerful entities of  **Mystery**  or by ancient artifacts that still hold the power of the  **Age of Gods**.

Some say that the end of the Age of Gods and the waning of Mystery has happened due to events that have damaged the textures, which caused the Mystery to flow from the material world into another texture.

 **The Cooper Clan –**  The Cooper clan is a relatively new clan, one that was born from the families of raccoons that were introduced to the "civilization" of the colonizers from their origins as members of tribes and native communities. Certain lineages of raccoons were prestige into the lands of the native Animericans, and among them, there was a lineage that was said to be descendants of  **Azeban** , a spiritual god raccoon, said to have been a benign trickster of his lands. This lineage would become the ancestors of the Cooper clan.

The Coopers are not exactly famous to everyone, at least not as far as raccoons can be, but they have contacts into the social circles, making them among the few raccoons that have some degree of political ties. However, in the underworld, the name Cooper is meaningful as the name of a whole family of thieves. However, the Coopers, unlike most of the lineages of thieves, the Cooper have a code of honor that came from being the descendants of a benign trickster. Their code includes only stealing from those who are undeserving of what they have, like corrupt politicians, blackmailers, and other thieves. Basically, they only steal from other criminals, because there is "no honor, no challenge, and no fun into stealing from ordinary people". This same code of honor often led the Cooper clan to clash with criminal families and organizations. Some might even say that the Coopers and the forces of police have the same goals, even though they act on opposite sides of the law.

Another detail of the Cooper clan is that they are users of magecraft. They do not possess dazzling tricks like older clans, but they do have a very strong Mystery, due to their bloodline going far before the colonization, as many of their ancestors were shamans and spiritual leaders. The lineage that was descendant of Azeban is said to have used all manners of spiritual tricks from the great spirit raccoon, and they were said to be as strong as all of their previous past members combined. Matter of fact, the whole Cooper clan are quite famous in the moonlit world, not for being high-quality mages or being an influent clan, but for their  **sorcery trait** , something that many call " **Cooper Unity** ". This specific trait acts as a form of  **spiritual possession magecraft** , but instead of allowing a user to summon skills from one's own past life, they are able to summon the past pieces of knowledge and skills from all of the members of the lineage that came before them. This way, one of the Cooper's might be able to summon the skills of a past Cooper who was a sailor, even though this Cooper was never learned who to handle a boat in life. However, while it allows summoning knowledge and skills from the past, it does not affect the body, so, even if they summon the skills of a Cooper who was a great acrobat, it will not allow them to summon the same physical condition that the former skill owner possessed. It does even allows them to summon magical knowledge of past magecraft users, but it does not increase one's own capacities in magecraft by increasing the quantity or quality of magical circuits.

 **The Onitsume Clan –**  There are some clans that are famous among the eastern lands, and among them, there is a clan that is less famous for their magecraft skills, and more famous for the way that they live their lives. This would be the Onitsume clan, a strong clan of leopards famous for being assassins.

History says that the clan originated from a mammal who was a samurai called Hagenata, who had lost his master and became a ronin. According to their tales, he wandered in the world, until he stumbled upon the lair of a dragon, with whom he learned the secret ways of the  **onikaze** , the demon wind. After this, the samurai started to fight his way in the world using this technique, and from him, the Onitsume clan was born. This clan is famous in Japan and other countries, as they have dedicated themselves not to magecraft itself, but to the "improvement of their art" and to doing freelancing jobs. The whole clan is famous as freelancers, and they have their own code of honor, they do all kinds of jobs, with most of it revolving around assassination, in this manner the family has acquired great fame for being assassins and hitmammals. Despite they all being mages, they have forsaken the studies in magecraft and the search for the Root, and instead only focus on "mastering the ways of the sword". As a matter of fact, the Onitsume don't see themselves as mages, and refuse to learn magecraft, as they believe that it would "taint their pure ways".

The Onitsume is also famous by the magecraft that they use, the only one that they truly used and mastered, and the only one that they seem to be able to use: the onikaze. This is said to be the same art that the dragon taught the founder of their clan, and that has been passed down to his children in the form of this teaching. This magecraft is the only one that they truly use, and while this makes their repertory extremely limited, it is worth it to be allowed to use this great power for the magecraft they do use. In its essence, the onikaze is a form of space distortion, a downgraded version of teleportation that allows for a user to distort time and space to allow one to move across space with a speed so great that they are able to pass from one point into another so quickly that they may even become invisible to the naked eye. This is something that they can do either with their whole body as a form of locomotion or with their blades, by making the blade move so quickly that it is hard to dodge it. This kind of magecraft attempts to distort time and space, distorting probability, and this makes many mages consider it as a form of High-Thaumaturgy, and is a subject of interest to other mages. The Onitsume believe that this technique seems to be "weakening" with each generation, as once they would actually be able to move across space, crossing great distances with a single step. Now they need to cross this distance with much more effort. Specialists say that it is because the waning of Mystery, made what once was a teleportation spell into a very downgraded version that only distorts space.

 **The Bearus Clan –**  The Bearus clan is a clan of bears that is famous in the area of the Eastern Roarope, said to be one of the oldest clans of the region. Of course, they are not as politically powerful and rich as other clans, like the Wildes or the Bellwethers, but they are strong in their own right, and they have a fair share of the wealth that comes from being owners of many different properties in their area.

All mage clans have something in which they excel, the area of focus of their researches and magecrafts. In the case of the Bearus, it is the creation of  **Mystic Codes**. The clan is famous for possessing a whole sorcery trait that is directly related to the creation of objects, said to have been a blessing from the god of forging of their lands. The very act of creating objects was one that involved using differing matter, giving it a new shape, and imbuing it with purpose. In this way, this specific sorcery trait allows them to not only to create objects by altering matter, as any smith and artisan could do, but it also allows them to "mold and alter the very essence of something to give it a new purpose". As a result, they are able to imbue concepts to objects that they create, be it through carpentry, blacksmithing, tanning (leather from lizards, obviously), and in this way they can turn objects they work on to imbue a level of  **Mystery**  into what they create, making these objects into  **conceptual weapons**. This makes them be considered on par with the Wildes in what comes to the creation of Mystic Codes. Because once they are able to imbue the objects that they create with a concept, turning them into a superior Mystic Codes compare to most. Not only that, but they can also apply their skills to already manufactured objects, like a sword or another object, allowing them to "ameliorate" these objects, imbuing them with Mystery so they to can become conceptual weapons.

It is noted that, while the conceptual weapons created by them can be superior to many other Mystic Codes, they are still no match to  **Noble Phantasms** …

 **Apparition –**  Ghosts are the spirit of the dead that manage to remain into the world by attaching themselves to something that becomes their anchor to the material world, and with time, they might become wraiths. However, apparitions are something different from both ghosts and wraiths. They are not true souls; instead, they are made from "what souls left behind"

When an individual dies, sometimes, it is possible that they leave behind "leftover thoughts, emotions, and memories" into the place where they died. These are lingering memories and emotions that they had in their last moments of life, or that were deeply ingrained in their psyches, enough for it to somehow "disperse into the environment" when their souls detached from the body and moved forward. Usually, these things disperse and vanish in the world, but there are cases in which these thoughts can gather until they form something that vaguely resembles an existence, one that is able to move and to exist as an echo of something that once was. When someone thinks about a ghost, they are actually thinking about an apparition. This is what most of the mammal media mistakes as a ghost, as they are the past regrets and feelings of mammals that somehow managed to persist. They are not the actual mammal, but only what they left behind as if it was an echo of what they once were. As a result, they have only a semblance of what the mammal once was, as they often act and behave in accordance to the thoughts that make them up, what can vary greatly depending on the mammal who died and the conditions of their deaths.

Usually, these existences linger in a place for a while, until they disperse, as they cannot be perceived normally, but they might sometimes manage to affect the physical world by channeling themselves through something, the way that the actual ghosts and wraiths do, and sometimes these "stray thoughts, emotions, and memories" might even manage to possess someone with great spiritual perception.

 **Nature Spirit –**  Nature spirits are entities that are born from the very elements of nature, spiritual entities born from plants, from the soil, from rivers and stones. It is common for precious gems that stayed underneath the surface of the earth for a long time to house powerful Nature Spirits. Nature spirits are entities formed by the qualities of nature, and while they can sometimes be summoned and controlled by mages, only the ones summon by the World itself, which serve as a defense mechanism of Gaia against the resource-plundering actions of mammals, can have a body made out of flesh and bone, and these are known as the  **transcendent kind**. One kind of these creatures are known to be a  **True Daemon** , beings that are even capable of altering the reality and the external world, once these beings were known to be living manifestation of the very laws of nature.

 **Guardian Spirit –**  A guardian spirit is something that can be created by merging a  **Nature Spirit**  or the spirit of a beast with the "leftover thoughts, emotions, and memories" of the spirit of a deceased mammal. This is not something that usually happens naturally, but instead being something that is made by mammals in order to create a spiritual entity that is not a true mammal, but has the values of one. The remnants of the mammal soul that are infused into the Nature Spirit absorb the knowledge and emotions of this mammal, and they end up acquiring mammalian emotions. In order to remain to the world, these spirits must be bounded to an object, place, or even a being. With time, the identity of the leftover mammals soul will take control of the spiritual body, and this causes the spirit to acquire the ideals and virtues of the mammal whose remnants were used. These kinds of entities are considered to be below the other nature spirits, but they have the potential to elevate and become something bigger. These entities usually are created to serve as spiritual familiars for mages or to serve as guardians to an object or place, and they usually behave similarly to  **Heroic Spirits**  but are vastly inferior. In order to materialize, they require a large amount of magical energy bigger than most mammal can produce. While in their spirit form, they cannot be observed by anyone, with the exception of the Master they are tied to because they can easily blend

 **Geis –**  One of the greatest problems in the world of mages has always been mages working together, and there had always been problems in this area. Some say that this problem comes from some point all the way back to the Age of Gods. According to some, this very specific curse has its origins traced all the way back to the Age of Gods when the sorcerers wanted to be sure that their fellow users of magecraft would not betray them.

A geis is sometimes also called a " **Mage's Contract** " or a " **Magical Contract** ". Is a curse considered among the worst ones that have existed. It works by imposing a restriction or obligation over the target with the consent of both parts. Once this curse is put in place, it courses through the body of the subject, affecting the  **Magic Circuits** , the nervous system, and sometimes even establishing itself into the body of the target almost as if it was a "second heart". This curse from that moment on will be in place, acting as a contract that will not be supported only by the laws, but by magecraft itself, and it will act as a force that will compel the one who accepted the curse into complying with the contract. This will cause the subject to be compelled and affected by the curse, so, if they try to break their contract or go against the stipulated terms, then it will cause pre-determined effects into them that can vary anywhere from mild pain to death. Some of the most popular effects of this are to cause the target to feel excruciating pain when they try to break the contract, or that causes them to become paralyzed if they try to do so. In some cases, a strong geis can even act as a forced compulsion that will force the one who signed it to obey what was stipulate, even against their will. Among mages, this is often used as a form of "insurance" to be sure that mages will obey their agreements, as the curse will be sure to stop or even punish them if they try to break the contract.

The Geis was present during the great times of the Age of Gods, and during that time, verbal agreements were more than enough to set any geis in place, binding the participants through the very magecraft or act of agreement. In the present days, it is still possible to create geis through verbal agreements, but many mages prefer to create geis by using an actual written contract as a base for their ritual, because increases the power of the magecraft by tying it to something tangible, and it is also more practical, for all the terms and conditions of the geis can be carefully written down in the contract, leaving little space for doubt. Also, another element that is useful, but not necessary, is for both parties to sign this physical contract by using their blood. It involves putting a part of their being into the contract, and this will increase the effectiveness of the curse. Again, signing with blood is not necessary, but it might increase the effectiveness of the curse, even though most of the younger mages of today consider it somewhat "creepy", and it is a practice that is greatly discouraged by the modern authorities of the mage world. Note that, despite serving as a powerful focus to the curse, the contract is not the heart of the curse, and any damage to the physical contract will have absolutely no effect in the curse once it has been placed.

This curse also has an even more merciless version that is the  **Self-Geis Scroll**. This works by placing a curse and a written contract over a scroll of vellum. This contract looks like meaningless figures and well-made patterns to anyone who is not a mage. This is a special kind of geis that works by directly connecting with someone's  **Magic Crest** , the most sacred treasure of a mage, and something that a good deal of mages might value more than their own lives. This specific kind of contract is obligatory to be written with the blood of the declarer and infused with the magic energy to be proved that the magic of the Geis has been activated. This specific contract lists the target of the binding, an oath to the target, and the conditions for the contract to be accepted. Once the conditions have been fulfilled, and the two parties have agreed, the target will give up part of their free will, as this contract will generate an unbreakable curse, one that will act upon the Magic Crest, forcing it to work to reinforce the contract, often making the Magic Crest use its own magecraft on the subject or affecting their very Magic Circuits in order to result into the specified effects. Effects resulting from this can include, but do not limit to the Magic Crest accessing its own spells and using them on the mage themselves to force them to comply or to discipline if he or she tries to break the curse; affecting the Magic Circuits to cause excruciating pain if they try to break the contract, forcing the Magic Circuits to overload themselves and burn, resulting in the loss of the ability to use magecraft, as a punishment for trying to break the contract. This contract binds to the very Magic Crest, and once it is in effect, even the death of the mage will not be a problem, for the curse and the Crest together will bind the soul of the deceased to their body.

There is worth to be noted that, despite geis being contracts that are reinforced by magecraft, in their very essence, they are still contracts, and as so, they have all the same limitations and situations that contracts are susceptible to. First of all, it is possible for them to become null, for instance, if a target has been bind into eliminating one specific target and the target later dies without their interference, they will be freed from the geis, once it will have become null and void. Also, another factor that is common into them is loopholes; for instance, a mage might be bound into "killing all the members of a determined clan until the full moon", however, the mage can escape from this if the contract does not specify "until the  _next_  full moon"; this is just one example of how a smart individual can exploit the loopholes of a geis to see himself free from the obligation.

Of course, not all geis are negative, they also have the capability to be used in a more positive form. In the Age of the Gods, different heroes have been known to use a geis to grant them extra strength or power in order to complete a promised goal. This work's in that a hero would swear to uphold whatever promise that was made whether it involves stopping one's self for doing a certain action or behavior. Another can involve following a certain code or set of rules. As long as they keep their promise they gain the extra strength to complete it and in some situation when the promise is made to a higher being a new power or a lower command of that beings authority. Of course in the modern age, such geis are not seen much anymore. Especially not the geis that grants some ability, for in order to make that one a higher being is needed.

 **The Mammal-Made Life Law –**  The creation of  **animunculi**  is something that can be traced back to the peak of the Age of Gods, into the old Egypt, where the practice is believed to have started. The practice of fabricating artificial living beings by replicating the natural process of birth, by using semen and other elements to generate a new life without the use of a womb. This practice was ingrained in the art of alchemy and became what would be a crucial aspect of this thaumaturgical foundation. However, the act of creating this life was not as admired by mammals, as with time, they saw their creations as not real mammals, but as mere tools of their own creation, that was to be used and discarded as needed. Animunculi were made with a certain purpose, be it to be servants or extra resources. They are to be used to their full potential no matter what, even after their deaths, they were dissected in order to retrieve the magical components so they could be used to fabricate new animunculi and whatever was left was thrown away as garbage. That was the way it was, and even though there were mammals who were more caring to their animumculi than others, everyone knew that they were not real mammals, and as so, there was no reason for them to be treated as such. However, that would change radically with the coming of the  **New Mage Codex** , more specifically, one point that is still seen as one of the most polemic sections of this: the  **Mammal-Made Life Law**.

Creating animunculi is no small task, it demands particular equipment and special alchemical ingredients, something that makes it impossible to just make them on a whim, no matter how skilled a mage one is. Mages who did had the necessary resources could produce animunculi according to their needs and use them as they saw fit, molding them to be their protectors, servants, playthings, anything that they could want. They could use them and end their lives as they wanted, and there was no problem in doing so. However, with the Mammal-Made Life Law, things have changed. According to this new law, anything that was able to think, feel, and reason, was a form of life no matter if it was naturally born or not. The act of giving birth is not something to be taken lightly, and so the act of creating life in artificial means should not be also, that was the argument in which the law was based. If you were to create a life and show no respect for it, then how will you be able to show respect for the other lives around you? That was the question that this law tackled, and the whole argument that was built around it.

The Mammal-Made Life Law can be summed pretty much into a simple sentence: "if you create a life, you are responsible for it".

The law made it clear that creating an animunculus was not something to be taken for granted, life was life no matter how it was made. So, the first aspect of the law is that, if you are creating a new life, then you need to let others know that this life exists. Thanks to this, you need special permission to create an animunculus. One needs the approval of certain authorities of the Clock Tower, and the created animunculus must be registered according to the law, so the Association will know that they exist, and they can later be traced. A created animunculus then is, from that point on, is the total and complete responsibility of the mage who created them, and as a result, the mage must watch over the animunculus and answer for whatever they do. In the case when the animunculus is no longer desired or needed then, instead of being killed and "recycled" then it must be freed, and for that, the creator of the animunculus must take the responsibility of giving the animunculus the means to survive in the world (what includes teaching them basic life skills) and release them so they will live their lives. Only in cases where the animunculus is deemed as "unable to live in modern society" or a "threat to society", then they are to be eliminated, and even then it is to be made as painless and mercifully as possible.

Yet today, animunculi are still being created, with varied purpose, from being servants to being resources, from being bodyguards, lovers, or maybe even family. Mages see them in ways that can vary from one mage to another, with some seeing them as useful resources, and others almost seeing them as part of the family, however even today most mages see them as not being truly mammals. The law was unable to change a form of vision that consolidated itself for several centuries ever since it was discovered how to fabricate an animunculi. Many mages still see animunculi as beings that only exist thanks to the actions of mages, and as so, it is hard not to feel a sense of superiority around them, which is what still leads many mages to threat animunculi as inferiors, either as slaves or as pets, not attributing to them the same rights that a mammal would have, simply because they don't consider them as actual mammals.

Many mages were deeply reluctant to accept this part of the Codex, the Bellwethers, on their end, were indignant. The creation of animunculi was what they were the most famous for, and it was the area in which they made the most advancements and research, and this law basically put a regulation on the whole process, from the creation, to the disposal of animunculi, and to the recovery of the resources used. The Bellwethers saw (and still see) this as a direct attack to their own research, and this is one of the reasons why they have a deep resentment regarding the Mieczyslaw clan, the creators of the Code and of the Mammal-Made Life Law.

Some say that this law, in particular, was created because one of the members of the Mieczyslaw clan, one that participated of the writing of the Codex, had met and fallen in love with a runaway female animunculus created by the Bellwether clan…

 **Sclawdio Family –**  This is an underground criminal organization of Animerican origins, originally founded by  **Galvarosso Sclawdio** , whose origins can be traced back to the Sicilian mafia. Although this group is still called a mafia, this organization has become far more than a simple gangster group. It has ingrained itself in many other organizations and families, and now it is a faceless mob that has no ties to national borders, bloodlines, or ideologies.

The family supports mages in a wide variety: like the ones who lost their property, went bankrupt, were driven out of their communities as heretics, were shunned away by the society as criminals, or even who came to ask for their help on their own volition. The family helps them by giving them the resources that they need to continue their work, from money to a place where they can settle their workshops. Notably, they don't try to steal or pry into the research of other mages or force them to work for the family and simply give them what they need to continue their work. Due to this, many families have become, even if unwillingly, dependent on them, and they voluntarily protect the Sclawdio family in order to protect their own interests.

Not only that, but the family has many other businesses, both in the mundane underworld and the underworld of the moonlit world. This led them to develop a great network of influence and power that goes beyond the borders of Animerica. Their level of power allows them to cover up massive murders, as well as opposing other organizations, even the Mage's Association and the Church are unable to bring them down or control them being able to, at most, keep peace with them.

This family is something unusual, as they were an organization that learned of the existence of magecraft on their own and entered in this world. However, instead of either being destroyed or used by the mages, they ended up achieving a level of power and influence in the world of mages that made them a source of great worry. After the revealing of magecraft to the world, the mundane authorities, who already knew the Sclawdio family as a kind of mob, had the added worry of knowing that they had mages and the supernatural on their side…

 **Marble Trading Company –** There is a type of underworld belonging to the moonlit world, that is something that seems to be common in any form of society, and the world of mages is surely no exceptions. In the seedy and dark underbelly of the world of the supernatural, organizations and syndicates thrive and grow, and among them, one of the most dangerous surely is the  **Marble Trading Company**.

With the coming of the New Mage Codex, many practices that previously were openly practiced by the mages became outlawed, and certain spells and rituals were deemed illegal. Of course, this did not stop some mages of wanting to use them, however, they needed to do so under the covers. So the Association would not find out about their doings, and the  **Enforcers**  would not come for them. From this practice of obtaining and using these outlawed rituals and materials, soon a particular form of organization was forming, one that was exactly versed into this area.

Some say that the  **MTC**  originated from a group of mages who were not a fan of the laws imposed by the New Codex, and from there they grew in size and in power until they became an organization of its own. They deal with nearly everything that the New Mage Codex deems illegal: from rituals and spells, said to be "vile" and "dangerous", to living mammals to serve as sacrifices, passing illegally obtained corpses for necromancers and magical ingredients taken from living mammals, and even magical formulas and rituals that were either stolen or taken by force through coercion or murder. If a mage is looking to buy, sell, trade, or negotiate anything among these lines, no questions asked, they go straight to the Marble Trading Company. This, of course, causes the Marble Trading Company to be something that is present as a support for mages that were deemed as  **philosophers**.

The MTC has grown a lot since its beginnings, and now is a whole criminal organization of the moonlit world that operates across international borders, with a level of power and wealth that makes them rival the  **Mage's Association**  itself. Not only that but since they offer "important services" to certain powerful mages, they tend to work in their protection, even though they don't admit openly that they use these "services". Not only that, but among the very rankings of this company, there are exceptional mages who are known to be their members in the underworld, but maintain a façade of a noble and respectful image to the public eye, much like bosses of the mob. As a result, the MTC often operates without any risk of the Association getting in their way, and they are quite used to act as they please.

 **Zugzwang –**  The Zugzwang is a group of the Eastern Roarope that is formed by a clan of mages, and who specialized in assassination. Originally, they were associated with a powerful clan of their land and they worked as their assassins in the matters of need, however, after the fall of the clan, they became  **freelancers**. They started to sell themselves as assassins and a military force all around the world, even working for many different governments and organizations outside of the moonlit world, that had no knowledge about mages and magecraft, This caused them to be able to earn a name in the mundane world as a criminal organization. After the revealing of magecraft to the world, it became clear to the authorities and the ones who hired them that they were not only assassins but assassins who used magic…

The Zugzwang is specialized in  **group magecraft** , utilizing spells and rituals that require at least two or three individuals working together in order to achieve a greater magical effect. Members are strong on their own, but when they are together, they are able to realize and use High-Thaumaturgy spell through the "resonance of their prana", in order to achieve powerful rituals and spells. This makes them particularly fearful when in a group.

There is an internal hierarchy in the Zugzwang, which is formed by nine members, male and female. One member is the  **king** , the one who commands, and the other eight members are  **pawns** , the ones who follow the king's orders.

 **The Black Serpents –** The Black Serpents are known as a criminal organization with mages forming their rankings. They originally were a part of the  **Orphans** , their most dangerous, rebellious, and violent members. While they shared the view of the Orphans of changing the way things were, their methods to achieve this were highly questionable. This led them to be shunned away by the other members, who thought them to be "too dangerous", and this led to their eventual secession from the Orphans and their resulting forming of their own group.

The Black Vipers have a much more radical view of things, as they want to restructure the whole foundation of the moonlit world, and they intend to put themselves on top of this new structure. They also utilize methods that are frowned upon by the Mage's Association and even by the Orphans, who see these methods as vile and unforgivable. The Vipers are surely dangerous, and the Mage's Association has been keeping a close eye for them ever since they separated from the Orphans and have formed their own group. They are taken as subjects of great interest due to the great violence and morally wrong things that they are ready to do in order to achieve their goals, which include dark arts and the use of blood rituals and  **Formalcraft**.

Ever since the revealing of magecraft to the World, the Black Vipers were just as active as the Orphans, and they were making many active efforts to bring more and more young mages to their rankings. The kind of mentality that they perpetuate, as well as the kinds of magecraft that they share with each other and the other kinds of organizations of the underworld with which they interact, makes this a source of serious worry to most of the Moonlit World.

 **The Order of the Eye of Horus –** The Order of the Eye of Horus, also known simply as " **The Eye** " is something that most mages know pretty well, and which most of them don't give too much attention. It is a "guild", an organization on its own right, said to have begun in the land of the old Egypt. It was said to have originated as a response to the corruption of a cruel Pharaoh, formed by individuals who used of the arts of magic to sabotage the Pharaoh and to protect the ones who were oppressed by him. They've stolen food to distribute among the slaves, fought off the corrupted authorities of the pharaoh who beat and killed innocents, and they rescued the ones who were sentenced to death without a fair judgment. They fought for justice and for the people until the death of that Pharaoh, and they retreated into the shadows. However, even with the death of the Pharaoh, they knew that history could repeat itself, so they remained in the shadows, getting ready to rise once more in the case something like this was ever to happen again.

The Order of the Eye of Horus has existed ever since, being the kind of organization that, despite not being as big and influent as the Mage's Association, is one that has existed for far longer than the Association itself. It is still formed by all of the individuals who share this mentality of using their magecraft to protect and save others, and who chose to use it to "tip the balance of justice the right way" whenever they need to. For many generations they have been in the background as they fought for their ideas, either by giving support to those who suffered under the command of tyrants, managing the aftermath of great disasters, or chasing and capturing on their own the criminal mages. They are seen by other mages as "vigilantes", and many saw them as "hopeless and childish dreamers", as they often chase dreams that are considered infantile and foolish by many mages. Most mages see them as little more than fools playing with their powers and pretending to be heroes, while a few see them as unpredictable and potentially dangerous. Most don't take them seriously, however, due to their old age and the significant amount of mages that compose them, this organization actually has a lot more money and influence than most of the Association gives them credit for, and their influence is particularly great in the lands of Egypt, the place where their Order originated, despite their influence spreading across a great part of the world.

The Order is formed by a significant number of mages, most of it from families that are said to be the descendants of the original wizards and priests that formed the first generation of the Order, but they still look for new talents to enter into their rankings, mammals who think the same way as them. These mammals, once recruited, must pass by a rigorous initiation that includes five missions that are given to them by the oldest members of the Order, and which they must follow with blind obedience. For each completed mission, the potential members will receive one marking on their bodies with magecraft, with the golden glowing symbol of an eye of Horus. One on the inside of each forearm, one on the stomach, one over the heart, and one on the forehead, these markings have the quality of only becoming visible when there is magical energy passing on them, as they glow into a golden light, making them easy to conceal. With each new eye, the potential member is said to become closer to "seeing the ideas of the order", as they become more devoted and more aware of their mission and goals. It is said that, upon receiving the last eye on the forehead, the candidate will become a member of the eye, and will be forever attached to the Order and will be ready to kill and to die for it.

The Order has a rigorous set of rules that all members must follow as a guide to their actions, some of them include: "you must never endanger a life unless it is to save another" or "personal greed and needs must never outweigh the fight for the greater good" another is"it is better to allow for one guilty mammal to walk away than to allow for an innocent mammal to suffer"; and so forth.

The Eye is an example of an organization that is completely separated from the Association, and they work on their own ways and for their own goals, and while the Association considers them as not being something meaningful, they are powerful enough on their own right so they would be able to face the Association if this day ever came.

They are also among the associations that remained in the shadows after the advents of the  **Darkest Hour** ,  **Great Revealing**  and the  **Interview of the Millennia**. They always preferred to stay away from the spotlights, and even though some mammals took knowledge of their existence eventually, they are still enigmatic and they follow their own agendas and their own goals. Of course, they continue to search for new potential mages to join their rankings, something that was becoming somewhat easier for them with the increase of the number of Brute Diamonds, and some of the new members can actually be considered as… flashy. They remain loyal to the same ideals that they have always had and that they had always defended. Still, some claim that underneath this whole "we are heroes of justice" front, there is a much deeper and more ambitious plan…

 **The Chronos Organization –**  There are all kinds of organizations around the moonlit world, most of them smaller and weaker than the Mage's Association. However, there are some that have enough influence and power that they are actually able to clash with the Association in what it comes to power.

Among them, there is one that is known as the Chronos Organization, also referred to simply as " **Chronos** ". They are an example of an organization that can clash with the Association. Once they held enough business and influence to be able to control around one-third of the territories of the western world. They also have a great deal of economic influence both in the moonlit world and in the world of mundanes. This grants them to have a lot of resources that they will use in order to help their members and to sustain their own goals and objectives.

This Organization is deep into keeping their actions a secret, even from the rest of the moonlit world. Most of their inner workings and even the location of their headquarters is something that even the Association does not have knowledge about. All that is known about their hierarchy is that they are led by a " **council of elders** ", and they have a whole group of assassins. Their main goal is to "keep world order", and they do that by "managing the world", and often by dismantling criminal organizations and by eliminating individuals that are deemed as "evil" or "corrupt", and as "threats to the world peace and order".

The most famous trait of the Chronos, however, is the fact that they have assassins that work as their hands in the world, eliminating these deemed as "evil", and anyone else whom they believe will be getting in the way of their operations. These assassins, of course, are considered criminals by the Association, however, they are protected by the Chronos, and the power of the Organization allows them to act protected from the actions of the Association, but they are still getting in constant conflicts with the Enforcers.

 **The Order of the Blue Rose –**  There are many organizations around the world, since the Mage's Association cannot be everywhere at the same time. In the grounds of Animerica, one that is a common subject is the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, also referred to as Order of the Blue Rose.

The Order is a small association formed by mages that have with its main purpose to harness the capacity of magic. The members of the Order are focused into growing as mages, harnessing more magical power and making advances to reach their goals. For that, the Order focus into researching together and into helping each other to make advancements, even though the members are as reclusive and mistrusting of each other as any mage is expected to be. This order has the costume of choosing members based on high social standards, and it is rare to someone who is not from a long lineage or with a good deal of political influence to be invited to join, and this makes many consider this to be more like a "high social club" than an actual association for mages. It also has the quality of caring little for morals, with the members searching harnessing of their magecraft for good and evil intentions, and the Order does not truly make any distinction between good and evil. Of course, this sometimes puts them at odds with other individuals, as some mages of the Order chose to use their magecraft for goals that are seen as "immoral" or "wrong".

The Order actually has no political power outside of their territory, and they would have absolutely no chances in direct conflict with the Mage's Association or with the  **Holy Church**. That is the reason why they keep it for themselves, as not to get on the bad side of the bigger organizations, so they can be allowed to continue their business in peace. The Association has a certain view on them, they see them merely as a "small club" rather than an actual organization, and so, they don't really pay much mind to them, as long as they obey the rules and don't try to cause problems.

The Order has many rules that its members are required to obey, and breaking them can mean the expulsion of the Order, followed by the erasure of the memory, or even death.

 **Children of Gaia –**  The end of the Age of Gods was brought about by the waning of Mystery, and there were many results of this. The creatures of the  **Phantasmal Species** vanishing from the world. The True Magic fading, leaving behind only traits of what it once was. The so-called "modern species" appearing, including the many breeds cat and dog. Also, there is the fact that mammals have had less and less contact with the traditions of the past as they become "more civilized". While this last factor is not considered in direct correlation with the end of the Age of Gods, there are some who consider this one a result of the other. Among these thinkers, there are the ones known as  **Children of Gaia**.

Also know as " **magi-ecologists** ", the children of Gaia are a group of mammals that believe that the fact that mammals deviated from their original natural roots was what led to the end of the Age of Gods and that as they continue to move further away from the "natural order", the more the Mystery of the world was going to vanish. That is why the Children of Gaia aim to return the world to its natural state. They absolutely forsake the progress of technology, believing that these things have tainted the souls of mammals, and caused the unbalance of the world. They focus their attention into fighting the progress, by trying to restore the habitats destroyed by it back into their natural state and prevent the progression from destroying more the natural world. Not only that, but they also try to change the behavior of mammals, encouraging them to let go of these modern and "unnatural" behaviors, and trying to make them act more like the mammals of the past did during the peak of the Age of Gods, before these cultures have "infected their spirits and moved them away from the natural way, causing the complete unbalance of nature". Their behavior can vary a lot from member to member, with it going from the harmless and legal ways, like the creation of places like the " **Mystic Oasis Spring** ", the naturist club, to acts that can easily be labeled as eco-terrorism…

The Children of Gaia truly believe that the mammals have left behind the natural ways and that they should try to recover it by returning to what they once where, and to reach again the state of perfect balance with nature, as the way that it was always supposed to be. This means not only adopting naturism but recovering the "traditional ways", which includes the predators hunting and eating their food. They yearn for a harmonious community of mammals that will be free from the destroying action of modern industry, and be more in tune with the natural way that mammals once followed in the immemorial times, and they believe that if it can be achieved, it could even bring back the lost Mystery of the Age of Gods. They actually do believe that the state of perfect connection with the root can be achieved through recovering one's own roots, retrieving one's "natural ways of behavior", free from the modern conventions. While most mages consider them as "hippies", or even "deranged", there are some mages among them that are powerful enough that they might be a source of worry to some of the ones who know them…

 **Atlas Institute –**  An organization that once held strong connections with the Mage's Association, but that now are at odds with them. Also called  **Atlas Temple**  and  **Atlas Academy** , and sometimes also called  **Titan's Pit**  and  **Institution of Aggregation and Analysis**. It is named after the great Titan Atlas, who was said to carry the heavens on his back, it is an organization that focuses on the study of Alchemy as its main  **Thaumaturgical Theory** , and it is said that all of their alchemists are descendants of Isis, and also that their existence predates the Association. All of the organization is formed by alchemists that conduct " **inquiring** ", wanting to find out the roots of magecraft and to understand the true nature of the laws of the world. They are responsible for measurements and predictions, as they try to understand "the great truths of the universe".

The reason why they have been in bad terms with the Association is the New Mage Codex, which put a lot of restrictions into the behavior of mages, and the Atlas is formed of a great number of geniuses, and as a result, this has always been a place free of taboos and morals. As a result, the place has no penalties for the most unethical experiments and for the creation of the most unethical weapons. The only rule that empires in the place are that anything that was created into the Atlas must never leave the place. This is a rule that exists and has been taken seriously for around 2000 years, and they have always cared more about people leaving the place than they cared about visitors, the whole inside of the place is made to be like a maze that will make nearly impossible for someone to leave.

Ever since the New Codex came, they have been in extremely bad terms with the Association, and despite their interactions that still occur, the Atlas Temple refuses to abide by the laws of the New Codex, and this puts them in great strain with the ones who support it, which currently is most of the Association.

Most of the alchemists in the Association actually seem to lack Magic Circuits, but in compensation, they are able to create weapons of great power, as their methods of researching mystery do not rely on the ability to use magecraft. There is a whole place in the Institute that is named  **the junkyard** , which is a whole warehouse where they put Mystic Codes that they deemed as failures, but there are still powerful weapons on their own right.

There is something that allows control over the Institute:  **the seven contracts**. These are seven geis-like contracts that bind the Atlas to offer their help to the one who has one of the contracts, and as a result, they will even break their only rule by lending their alchemists and by giving them their weapons.

 **The Wandering Sea –**  The Wandering Sea, also known as  **the Wandering Tomb** , is an integrated association in Northern Roarope. It is a great conglomerate of minor organizations of mages across Roarope that was originally part of the Mage's Association, but with the  **Clock Tower**  becoming the new headquarters of the Association, they have ceased communication. Apparently, they were unsatisfied with the shift in the centralization of power, and they decided to form their own group.

Their base is a whole mountain that is localized in a texture that stays in between the "material world" and the "Reverse Side". Most of this texture is composed of a giant ocean, and the mountain is actually a whole island that can move across this ocean, and even able to submerge into the sea like some sort of submarine, which allows the entrance for the headquarters to be able to materialize anywhere in the world, be it in the sea or in dry land. The entrance, however, is not localized into the surface, is located forty meters below the ocean level of the texture, making it only accessible by going down and emerging back through a docking area in the inside of the mountain, around ten meters below the level of the sea. The ones inside can also use manipulation of the water of the ocean to pull ships into the docking area, but this process can easily destroy any ship that is not airtight or that is not physically or thaumaturgically shielded against sudden changes in pressure.

Another element that is considered a reason why the Wandering Sea has cut ties with the Association is that they only consider magecraft of the Age of Gods, and they look down on modern magecraft. They have the strong belief that all researches and efforts of the mages of the world should be turned to finding a way to recover the old  **True Magic**  and to bring it back so mages can claim it as their own. Anyone who thinks otherwise or who tries to dissuade them of their noble goal is considered a heretic and will be treated as such by them. Among the Mage's Association, there are some lineages and members who originally belonged to the Wandering Sea, but were kicked out as heretics and joined the Association because they had nowhere else to go.

Some of the associations who form them include:  **The Prague Association** , who is formed by alchemists and follow the traditional precepts of alchemy; and the  **Thule Society** , which is specialized in rune magecraft, keeping for themselves some of the original runes, and having a strong rivalry with the clan of rune users, the Mieczyslaw.

 **The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors –**  This is the name group of the ones who form the elite among  **vampires**. The original group of twenty-seven was formed by the original mammals who were kept as "emergency rations" by the  **True Ancestors** , and escaped to the world, originating the first vampires. During the time, some of these were succeeded by new generations of  **Dead Apostles** , due to more of half of the original ones have been either sealed away or annihilated by the Church. As a result, the leadership has been changing with the millennia, and now, the Twenty-seven form a distinct faction among Dead Apostle, being the oldest and more powerful of them.

As a rule, the Twenty-seven usually have a great deal of influence and power, coming from several centuries or even millennia dwelling in the world and into the Mystery, resulting in them having powers that surpass most other vampires by a lot. The most powerful of them have established their own "kingdoms" by owning lands, having many inferior Dead Apostles under their power (they often are the leaders of whole factions, or "covens", of vampires), and by having armies of undead familiars under their command. Not only that, but the amount of power makes them able to do things other Dead Apostles could only dream about, like being able to create Reality Marbles, and since they are beings of Mystery, they can only be harmed by other Mysteries, and since the older a Mystery is, the more powerful it becomes, they tend to have Mysteries so deep that it makes them untouchable to most weaker Mysteries, which sometimes means all of modern magecraft. In some cases, their existence as a Mystery is so deep that it allows for them to be able to exist in the world even if their physical body perishes, existing as spiritual entities. Due to the great weight of their Mystery, the Twenty-seven are even said to be able to rival Servants in power, and since both are beings of Mystery, these battles usually come down to "having the means to kill the other guy somehow".

The Church has a ranking for the Twenty-seven, and it does not go according to their power, or how old they are, but on how much of a threat they are capable of posing for mammal-kind.

The members of the Twenty-seven who are defeated by the Church are sealed inside of special coffins and buried in a sacred place, once their existences are so deep and powerful that they cannot be completely destroyed.


End file.
